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GOOD BRIDGE 



A classification and analysis of the 

best plays as played to-day 

by the best players 



By 
CHARLES STUART STREET 

Author of Whist Up To Date, Bridge 

Up To Date, and Sixty Bridge 

Hands 




New York 

Dodd, Mead and Company 

1907 



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USrtARY of CONGRESS 
iwu Cooler Receivecf 

OCT 23 iSOr 
Oopynehf Entry 

CLASS A XXc„ N6. 
COPY b. 



n.^^ 



V 



Copyright, 1907 
By DoDD, Mead and Company 



Published, October, 1907 



To all my 

pupils in Bridge 

whose earnest study and faithful application 

have encouraged its 

production, 

this book is respectfully dedicated 



INTRODUCTION 

Seven years ago the author published a small 
and concise treatise called Bridge Up To Date. 
This treatise he still believes to be the best 
practical book for the beginner, the early stu- 
dent of the game. But now there seems to be 
an unsatisfied demand for a book on more ad- 
vanced lines, one w^hich, while covering partly 
the same ground covered by Bridge Up To 
Date, does it in a new way ; which contains all 
that is best and latest in the game as played to- 
day, and withal is not a book of such appalling 
size or complex arrangement as to daunt the 
student or be relegated to the library table — in 
short, a simple, clear, helpful manual. Such the 
authof has tried to write and now offers in the 
present volume of Good Bridge. Much of an 
elementary character has been left out, but an 
effort has been made to explain and illustrate 
those constantly recurring plays which are 
vital to the game, and spell success. 



d 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 
THE MAKE page 

Value of the Make i 

Principle of the Make 2 

No-Trump Makes 3 

First Exceptional No-Trumper 3 

Second Exceptional No-Trumper 4 

Third Exceptional No-Trumper 5 

Additional Hints about No-Trumpers 6 

What is meant by Protection 6 

Declared Trump Makes 7 
Examples of Declared Trump Makes Adding 

to 8 8 

Heart Makes 9 

Hearts rather than No-Trump g 

Examples of Hearts rather than No-Trump 9 

Four-card Heart Makes 10 

Hearts rather than Diamonds 10 

Examples of Hearts rather than Diamonds 10 

Diamond Makes 11 

When to declare Diamonds originally 12 

Passed Diamond Makes 13 

Original Four-card Diamond Makes 13 

General Hints on Diamond Makes 13 

Club Makes, original 14 

Passed Club Makes 15 

Spade Makes, original 15 

Passed Spade Makes 15 

Spades rather than Clubs 16 

Makes to the Score 17 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER II 

DOUBLING 

Doubling No-Trump 
The Heart Convention 
The Short Suit Convention 
Doubling Hearts, Diamonds or Clubs 
Doubling Spades Declared by Dummy 
Doubling Original Spades 
Examples of Good Doubles in Spades 
Caution in Doubling 
Redoubling 



PAGE 

19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
24 
25 
25 



CHAPTER III 

THE OPENING LEADS 

Opening Lead at No-Trump 27 

List of Leads when Holding Three Honours 28 

List of Leads without Three Honours 28 

Complete List of High Opening Leads at No- 
Trump 29 

The Lead of the Fourth-best 31 

Short Suit Opening at No-Trump 31 

The Lead of the Lowest Card rather than the 

Fourth-best 33 

Opening Leads in Declared Trump Hands 34 
Opening Leads when not Holding Trump 

Strength 35 

The Seven Good Leads in Declared Trump 

Hands when Weak in Trumps 36 

Notes on the Above Seven Leads 37 

Harmless Leads and Bad Leads 39 

A Trump Lead 40 

Opening Leads when Holding Trump Strength 41 

iJeading after Partner has Doubled 42 



CONTENTS xi 



CHAPTER IV 

SECOND HAND PLAY page 

Rule for Second Hand Play, from Dummy, in 
No-Trump 45 

List of Second Hand Plays, from Dummy, in 
No-Trump 45 

Four Peculiar Cases of Second Hand Play 55 

Playing Second Hand from Dummy in a De- 
clared Trump Hand 57 

Dealer's Second Hand Play in No-Trump 58 

Dealer's Second Hand Play in a Declared 
Trump Hand 59 

Second Hand with Dummy on Your Left in 
No-Trump 60 

Second Hand with Dummy on Your Left in 
Declared Trump Hands 61 

Second Hand with Dummy on Your Right in 
No-Trump 61 

Second Hand with Dummy on Your Right in 
Declared Trump Hands 62 



CHAPTER V 

THIRD HAND PLAY 

Third Hand in No-Trump 63 

Examples of Finesses in No-Trump Playing 

Third in Hand 63 

Third Hand on a Strengthening Lead 65 

Unblocking Third Hand in No-Trump 65 

Rules for Unblocking in No-Trump Third 

Hand 66 
Examples of Various Third Hand Plays in No- 
Trump when not Playing to Win the Trick 67 
Third Hand in Declared Trump Hands 67 
Showing Down 67 
Encouragement and Discouragement Cards 69 



Xll 



CONTENTS 



Examples of Encouragement and Discourage- 
ment Cards 

Remarks on Encouragement and Discourage- 
ment Cards 



PAGE 



70 



70 



CHAPTER VI 

DUMMY PLAY IN NO-TRUMP 

Choice of Suit 72 

The Division of Cards 73 

Finesse 74 

Examples of Finesse 74 

When to Finesse 76 

Finessing to Throw the Lead 76 

Holding up Aces -^ 78 

, When not to Hold up an Ace 79 

When to Hold up an Ace 80 

The Entry 81 

Entry in the Adversary's Suit 82 
Entering on a Small Card of a Suit in which 

you have eight or more in both hands 85 
Building up an Entry • 87 

Taking a Chance for an Entry 88 

Losing the First Trick to Enter Later 88 



CHAPTER VII 

DUMMY PLAY IN DECLARED TRUMP 
HANDS 

Examples of Estimating Hands 92 

Rules for the Play of Declared Trump Hands 95 

Examples of the Play in Declared Trump Hands 96 

Entering on the Last Round of Trumps 98 

Double Ruff 103 

Leading for the Last Trump 105 

Doubling up the Trumps 106 



CONTENTS xiii 



CHAPTER VIII 

SIDE PLAY PAGE 

Side Play in No-Trump Hands 107 

Considerations Governing the Leader's Play 
After Seeing Dummy 108 

Analysis of the Above Four Considerations log 

Considerations Governing the Play of Third 
Hand iii 

Analysis of the Above Four Considerations 112 

Holding up Winning Cards 114 

Side Play in Declared Trump Hands 115 

Analysis of the Above Four Common Plays 
in Declared Trump Hands 115 

CHAPTER IX 

THE DISCARD 

Rules for Discard 121 



CHAPTER I 

THE MAKE 

Value of the Make 

At least sixty per cent, of the game of Bridge 
lies in the make. A poor player loses tricks, 
and often the game and rubber, by his play, 
but so many hands occur in which there is 
really no play, that such losses are compara- 
tively unimportant compared with the havoc 
wrought by an injudicious maker. For con- 
stantly his decision is invoked when the safety 
of the game or its success lies in his judgment 
of the value of his hand. To choose between 
hearts or diamonds and no-trumps ; to select 
clubs rather than spades ; to know when a five- 
card suit is unsafe and when one of four cards 
should be chosen; above all to keep an unre- 
laxing attention upon the state of the score 
with its shifting demands — all these are the 
sterling qualities of a good maker. Once sensi- 
ble that you are lacking in any such respect, 
you will find your game appreciably strength- 
ened by attention and study. 
Don't be led astray by the spice of danger in 



GOOD BRIDGE 



a weak no-trumper when a more conservative 
suit make will probably win out; don't rebel 
at making spades either because they count so 
little or because you dislike to lose your deal. 
Many hands are either spades or no-trump ; 
the ability to decide which should be your aim. 
Some hands are pure guesses, but learn to 
guess intelligently, and constantly correct and 
revise your ideas through your experience. 

Principle of the Make 

There is one great, underlying, primary prin- 
ciple upon which the whole structure of the 
make is founded — a principle so often over- 
looked that it is here submitted. Four persons 
at the table are playing for thirteen tricks. 
With an equal division of the cards each person 
should take three, leaving one over. Here then 
appears the great principle: The thirteenth 
trick should be in the hand of the player who 
selects any make except spades. In short, you 
should have four probable tricks in your hand, 
else you are asking your partner to take more 
tricks than you will take, towards winning not 
the game, but only the odd card ! Always bear 
this in mind and you will find that many a 
make, hitherto unhesitatingly declared, will 



GOOD BRIDGE 



take on a new and tenuous aspect, while pos- 
sibly also you will meet with fewer disasters. 
Of course sometimes the score demands a 
chance shot which at other times would be ab- 
surd. But realize that it is a chance shot, that 
it is not sound, and that facing one loss you 
deliberately risk a greater, in the hope that 
some peculiar combination of cards will save 
the day. 

No-Trump Makes 

There are three requisites for a no-trump 
make : 

1. Ability to take four tricks probably. 

2. Protection in three suits. 

3. At least one ace, much better two. 
There are three exceptional no-trumpers in 

each of which, in turn, one of these three 
requisites may be absent. 

First Exceptional No-Trumper 

Holding three aces but no other trick. Every, 
three-ace hand is not necessarily a no-trumper. 
Many are hearts, or diamonds, owing to the 
honours, or to the length of the trump suit, or 
to the weakness or absence of another suit. 



GOOD BRIDGE 



But every three-ace hand which has no other 
trick in it is a no-trumper, no matter whether 
it is original or passed, whether the aces are 
red or black. The power of an ace is enormous, 
and even if the make results badly due to your 
partner's having a weak hand, you have always 
the consolation of thirty in the honour column, 
a credit not to be lightly despised. 

But if three aces and no other trick barely 
create a no-trumper, largely due to the advan- 
tage in honours, the much-cherished rule of 
making it no-trump with two aces and a third 
suit protected becomes nonsense. Your honours 
— your excuse for the make — have vanished, and 
one of your already too scarce tricks is in peril. 
If your protected suit offers you a chance for 
two tricks, or if one of your ace suits holds out 
possibilities of another trick, with four tricks 
probable, your make is sound. But players 
addicted to making it no-trump with two aces 
and a single guarded king or queen must lose 
oftener than they win. They persist because 
it is so much more agreeable to recall success 
than defeat. 

Second Exceptional No-Trumper 

One long solid black suit and another ace. 
The rule demands protection in three suits, but 



GOOD BRIDGE 



with a long solid black suit like A K Q J, or 
AKQxx(x = a low card), or A K x x x x x, 
and another ace, red or black, original or 
passed, you should declare no-trump, even if 
the other suits are absolutely worthless, or if 
one of them is lacking. To the novice this 
make appears dangerous, but it is really much 
more likely to win than to lose. The objection 
is often offered that the adversaries can run 
off the other two suits, and indeed they may 
do so. But your partner is apt to protect one 
if not both of them. If he has nothing you 
may lose the odd, even the game, but the 
chances are nearly two to one in your favour. 
In declaring this make, you offset the lack of 
protection in the third suit, by the number of 
probable tricks you can make when you once 
enter. 

Third Exceptional No-Trumper 

A hand strong in every suit but without an 
ace. If )^ou have a very strong hand, two 
honours in each suit, or all suits protected and 
one long strong black suit, you will probably 
succeed with a no-trump make. But this oc- 
casion is rare, and there is such serious danger 
from an adverse honour score that any victory 
you achieve may be almost equal to a defeat. 



6 GOOD BRIDGE 

Additional Hints about No-Trumpcrs 

A one-ace no-trump is usually precarious, and 
is good only with a very strong hand where all 
four suits are protected, or where there is some 
long suit which can be readily established. 

Many players are timid about making a passed 
no-trump with no protection in hearts, or when 
void of that suit. It is always more than an 
even chance that your partner can protect the 
suit you lack, and many a hand not strong 
enough to declare hearts has good hearts in it, 
such as A K X, A Q X, K Q X X, or Q J lo X. 

In poor no-trumpers, strong hearts or good 
protection in hearts is almost a necessity, but in 
good ones it can be disregarded. 

What is Meant by Protection 

By protection in any suit is meant the proba- 
ble chance of keeping the adversaries from 
making that entire suit, and also the probable 
chance of making a trick in it yourself. Suits 
are absolutely protected with an A, or K Q, 
or Q J lo, or even J lo 9 x, but the lower your 
best card is, the less chance it has of ultimately 
winning a trick. K J x, K 10 x, Q J x, Q 10 x, 
J 10 X X, are all considered as protection, but 
may all fail. The minimum is K x, Q x x, 



GOOD BRIDGE 



J X X X, which are all so dangerous as to 
presage failure nearly as often as success, and 
yet must often be chanced. Suits containing a 
lone K or Q X or J X X are not really protected, 
although often such cards win. 

Declared Trump Makes 

In declared trump hands, just as in no-trump- 
ers, you must see the probable chance for four 
tricks before you declare the trump. 

A simple test of all trump makes is to take 
the number of your trumps, which should be as 
many as five at least, add in the trump honours 
a second time (thus each honour in trumps 
counts double), add in also your probable out- 
side tricks, and if the total makes eight, the 
make will probably succeed ; if it makes seven 
or less it v/ill probably fail. This is due to the 
fact that an extra trump, another honour in 
trumps and an outside trick all strengthen a 
hand about equally. By an outside trick is 
meant not only an ace, but a king or a queen 
sufficiently guarded. 



8 



GOOD BRIDGE 



Examples of Declared Trump Makes Adding 

to Eight 



NUMBER OF 
TRUMPS 


TRUMP 
HONOURS 


OUTSIDE TRICKS 


7 


1 





7 





1 


6 


2 





6 


1 


1 


6 





2 


5 


3 





5 


2 


1 


6 


1 


2 


5 





3 



No empirical rule can be laid down. This 
method of counting is advanced rather as a help 
to test a decision already reached. There are 
exceptional cases where a hand that counts up 
to eight will probably fail. Q J lo x x in trumps 
with no outside trick counts up to eight, yet 
would not be a good heart make : so too with 
J 10 X X X and a guarded Q for an outside trick. 
But if the weakest eight-count hands are poor, 
it can easily be seen that almost all seven- 
count hands are destined to fail. 

Remember that when you hold only one 
honour, or no honour, in trumps there is always 



GOOD BRIDGE 



the danger of the adversaries making a large 
honour s-core. 

Heart Makes 

Guided by the suggestion just given, you will 
find that the average heart make presents few 
difficulties. 

Hearts rather than No-Trump 

Many hands containing three aces should be 
made hearts rather than no-trump, especially 
with any of the following combinations: 

1. Four honours in hearts. 

2. A strong heart suit, a second long and 
strong suit, the ace alone of the third suit, and 
no trick possible in the fourth. 

3. A very long heart suit of six or seven, with 
some other suit very short or missing. 

But unless your heart suit contains simple 
honours or great length, the make of no-trump 
should be given the preference. 

Examples of Hearts rather than No-Trump 



HEARTS 


DIAMONDS 


CLUBS 


SPADES 


A K Q 10 
AEQ 5 3 
AK 643 2 
AQ 86 542 


A7 5 

A K 10 6 2 

A 

A97 3 


A32 

A 

A97 5 

A 2 


96 
84 
9 8 



10 



GOOD BRIDGE 



Four-card Heart Makes 

Four-card heart makes are good only when 
you have three honours in trumps, two of them 
being the A, K or Q, together with several 
tricks outside, or another strong suit. They 
should really add up to nine rather than eight, 
by the method outlined on page 7. Such 
hands as original makes are often overlooked 
and yet are very valuable. They may not win 
the game, but they often secure for you a good 
start for the next deal. 

Hearts rather than Diamonds 

Occasionally a hand occurs wherein it is diffi- 
cult to choose between hearts and diamonds. 
But, putting aside the question of honours, you 
should always be guided by the fact that it 
takes one less trick to win the game in hearts 
than in diamonds, and that the longer suit, even 
if not made the trump, may be equally good 
as a side suit. 



Examples 


of Hearts rather than 


Diamonds 


HEARTS 


DIAMONDS 


CLUBS 


SPADES 


AKQ42 
KQ J 84 
AKQ43 


A K 10 6 5 3 
AKQ 42 
AKQ J 


7 

32 

K7 6 5 


4 
6 



GOOD BRIDGE ii 

In the first example of these hands, with a 
heart make you can afford to lose a diamond 
while clearing the suit, besides the club and the 
spade, and still win the game. While if dia- 
monds were trumps the loss of three tricks 
would prevent your going out. 

In the second example with hearts as trumps 
your chance of exhausting the trumps and mak- 
ing the diamond suit is just as good as if they 
were transposed, and you can afford to lose one 
more trick. 

In the third example, while the honours in 
diamonds are attractive, the surer path to the 
game lies in having the heart suit for the 
trumps. You are nearly certain to be forced 
on the spades and with hearts as trumps you 
can survive a force which might ruin a dia- 
mond hand. 

Diamond Makes 

The current prejudice against diamond makes 
is a mystery. From a zero score it is difficult 
to go out at diamonds, but it is certainly better 
to reach as far as 24 or 18 or even 12 with a 
fair diamond make than to chance a spade make 
from your partner. It is said you should not 
declare diamonds because there are two makes 
better, either of which your partner may have. 
Granted, but there are also two makes worse, 



12 GOOD BRIDGE 

one of which you will probably not be allowed 
to play, or which will be doubled to your loss. 
Every hand cannot be hearts or no-trumps, and 
only a small percentage of games are won in 
a single deal. It is an enormous advantage on 
your second deal to have already gained a start 
of 6 or more. With such a start of only 6, good 
average diamond makes become compulsory. 
It takes no more tricks to go out from a score 
of 6 at diamonds than from zero at hearts, and 
yet many a player, foolishly biassed, passes a 
good diamond make with a score of 6, when 
had that identical make been transposed to 
hearts and the score zero, he would have con- 
sidered the hand very good and would have 
gleefully made it hearts. 

When to Declare Diamonds Originally 

1. When holding four honours (unless hearts 
or no-trump seems stronger). 

2. When playing to the score, 6 or more. 

3; When your hand is a little stronger than 
it would have to be to declare hearts (adding 
to 9 or more. See page 9). 

4. With a very long (even if not strong) suit 
of diamonds, with hearts weak or missing, and 
a generally poor hand. This is a safety make, 
as your hand cannot probably help any make 
your partner might declare, and if his hand 



GOOD BRIDGE 13 

were not very strong, you might lose dis- 
astrously. 

Passed Diamond Makes 

A passed diamond make falls exactly into the 
rule for all makes and should be treated exactly 
as if it were hearts. 

Original Four-Card Diamond Makes 

Four-card diamond makes should be declared 
originally only when holding four honours in 
trumps, or when playing to the score, and hold- 
ing three high honours and several other tricks. 

General Hints on Diamond Makes 

You should remember that when you hold 
nine red cards, your partner will probably have 
to declare a black make. 

It is better to declare diamonds when holding 
one ace in your hand than with none, as, in the 
latter case, your partner has more chance for a 
no-trumper. 

Try to be consistent in practising your dia- 
mond makes, and you will win sometimes. If 
you keep changing your ideas, influenced by 
one failure or by several, you will probably 
always choose the wrong time. 

Above all, unless your partner is a thoroughly 
good player, don't heed his criticism, which is 



14 GOOD BRIDGE 

valueless, being invariably based on result. 
When he has nothing he will commend your 
diamond make, as he would have had to declare 
spades. On the other hand, when he has a 
hundred aces, or four honours in hearts, he 
will probably score you roundly for not passing 
the make, yet your hand would be the same in 
either case. 

Original Club Makes 

An original club make is sound in three cases 
only: 

1. When the score is 14 or more, and you have 
a strong club hand with two or three tricks 
outside. 

2. When you have four honours and the score 
is in a safe position, as in the early part of the 
first game, or in the second, when you have 
won the first. But not in the rubber game, nor 
in the second game when you have lost the first. 

3. In a badly balanced hand which is very 
long in clubs and is void of one red suit, or is 
weak in both red suits. Here it becomes a 
safety make. If you pass the make with such a 
hand, your partner is most likely to declare 
your missing suit, or one of your weak suits, 
and, while his make might be perfectly just, it 
would probably result in ruin. 



GOOD BRIDGE 15 

Passed Club Makes 

The general rule which applies to hearts and 
diamonds also applies to clubs. Any hand 
which adds to eight can be declared clubs. 

Original Spade Makes 

Unless the score is in desperate straits it is 
unwise to pass a hand that has not a possible 
trick in it. Therefore, in any game, when the 
score of that game is not greatly adverse, an 
original spade make is justifiable if you hold a 
blank hand. But not if you hold an ace, or a 
king, or a queen guarded, even though they are 
in the spade suit. 

The accurate analysis of over one thousand 
hands shows that only one in twenty-five is 
strong enough to take the odd card unassisted. 
By making it spades originally, with hands con- 
taining no tricks, you will once in a while inter- 
fere with a good make on the part of your 
partner, you will sometimes lose a good honour 
score, but you will constantly save games and 
rubbers. 

Passed Spade Makes 

One great distinguishing mark of a good 
player is his willingness to declare spades ; to 
realise that his hand is a losing hand, and not 



i6 GOOD BRIDGE 

to grasp futilely at what does not exist. You 
must learn to accept the situation ; the deal 
was a mistake ; your partner couldn't declare 
a trump, you cannot. Be resigned to your loss, 
and don't try to press forward, hoping that this 
time you will make a lucky hit. 

Indeed, in one way, you should deem yourself 
lucky to have such a bad hand when it is your 
deal. If the adversaries could have the declara- 
tion, an enormous game for them would proba- 
bly result, while, as it is, all they can score is 
4 a trick on doubled spades. 

Spades rather than Clubs 

An insidious doctrine has lately crept forth 
and been exploited to the effect that weak club 
makes in the passed hand are preferable to 
spades when the spades are very weak or very 
short. The excuse alleged is that your partner 
may have a strong black suit, and the chances 
are equal that it is clubs. But the fact is over- 
looked that if you have four or five poor clubs, 
of the nine or eight remaining your partner 
is not likely to have many, while, on the other 
hand, if you have only one spade or none, that 
is probably his suit. 

Make it clubs when your make is justified, 
when your hand adds to eight, when you think 
vou have a fair chance to take four tricks. But 



GOOD BRIDGE 17 

don't make it clubs on four to the king, jack, 
because you have only one spade and are afraid 
of the adversaries' doubling. If your spade 
make is doubled the loss is rarely overwhelm- 
ing, but a weak club make doubled may give 
the adversaries the game. Unless the club 
make you are considering looks strong enough 
for four tricks, abandon all idea of it, be content 
with the more modest spade, and await your 
next deal. 

Makes to the Score 

When you have won the first game your posi- 
tion is fairly safe, so it is wise to be a little con- 
servative and make only according to the best 
rules and the soundest principles. It is no time 
to take a risk. The adversaries must win two 
games in succession to defeat you, and the 
odds are against them. 

But when the score is adverse, when you have 
lost the first game, or when the adversaries are 
well along in the rubber game, it is often prac- 
tically compulsory to make a declaration that 
at safer times would be inexcusable. Unnat- 
urally light no-trumpers, apparently weak heart 
makes, or even admittedly insufficient dia- 
monds might meet with success and should be 
tried. Any possible chance should be taken 
when ruin impends; it really matters little if 



i8 



GOOD BRIDGE 



the adversaries' score is made a bit larger, and 
you might save a huge loss. 

When your score is 22 or more and your part- 
ner passes the make, he practically asks you 
for your best suit. Here four-card makes with 
two honours, such as K Q x x, K J x x, K 10 
X X, and even Q 10 x x, are often successful if 
you have a trick or two outside. Your partner 
many times passes a moderately good hand, 
able to support any make, but not strong 
enough for a make itself. 



CHAPTER II 
DOUBLING 

Except in rare cases where the doubler has a 
wonderful hand which is worth seven fairly sure 
tricks, all doubling is a matter of the score. 
A double which at one point in the score would 
be wise, at another is absurd. 

Double only when the value of the trick so 
increased will benefit you more than it will 
the adversaries. 

Always consider the possibility of a redouble, 
and the effect of that on the score. 

Doubling No-Trump 

When you are the leader you can double no- 
trump when holding seven fairly sure tricks in 
your own hand, such as: 

1. AKQ Jxxx. 

2. A K Q J X X and another ace, or a king 

and queen. 

3. A K Q X X X X. 

4. A K Q X X X and another ace or a king and 

queen. 

5. AKxxxxx would be very doubtful. 
With fewer than seven tricks you should 



20 GOOD BRIDGE 

double only when the score demands it. If the 
adversaries are i8 and you are i6, you can 
double with six tricks, or a very good general 
hand. One trick takes them out anyhow, and 
one trick unless doubled will not win you the 
game. But if they are i6 and you are i8, your 
double would aid their side much more than it 
would yours, and should not be tried. Again 
at 12 or i6 apiece in the rubber game it would 
be silly to double, as the odd trick would then 
let them out; even if your combined hands 
prove strong in such a case, and you win the 
odd, you have by no means lost your chance, 
as you now have the deal at 24 or 28. As for the 
childish superstition about winning a game 
from a score of 28, it is only because it is so 
remarkable that neither you nor your partner 
can make a declaration to carry you out, that 
the fact is remembered. 

The Heart Convention 

By the heart convention is meant the agree- 
ment that, if third hand doubles, the leader 
should lead his best heart regardless of number. 
More tricks are lost than are won from the mis- 
understanding resulting from the lead of a low 
heart when the leader has a long heart suit. By 
doubling, your partner assumes control, and 



GOOD BRIDGE 21 

demands absolutely one thing, your best heart; 
to lead him aught else is to mislead him tem- 
porarily, perhaps to the downfall of the hand. 

For you to double third hand, playing this cus- 
tomary convention, means that you want and 
expect such a lead. Therefore you must have 
'a strong heart suit (which is always probable, 
as the maker would have chosen hearts rather 
than no-trump, if long and strong in hearts), or 
another solid suit with the ace of hearts, or a 
hand consisting of great general strength, 
which appears good enough to defeat the 
maker, with average aid from your partner. You 
have a much better chance with a generally 
strong hand if the maker is on your right ; when 
he is on your left it is very dangerous, as some 
of the high cards you have counted upon as 
tricks may be led through and captured. 

If you as leader have no heart, you should 
open your best suit as you would have done 
otherwise, except that holding an A K suit you 
should lead the king first to view the dummy 
and try to determine how best to help your 
partner by your next lead. 

The Short Suit Convention 

Many players, especially in England, prefer 
not to use the heart convention, but to have 
more latitude, to double with any good long 



22 GOOD BRIDGE 

suit, it being understood beforehand that part- 
ner is to lead his shortest suit. But this scheme 
of play is false in theory and dangerous in prac- 
tice, for several reasons. First, it encourages 
too much doubling and constantly tempts san- 
guine players to destruction. Second, it is most 
uncertain, as partner may have two suits 
equally short and may choose the v^rong one. 
Third, the maker may have made it no-trump, 
also with one great long suit. Should that hap- 
pen to be the leader's short suit, which is quite 
likely, the result is hardly profitable. A doubled 
no-trumper is too expensive, too delicate to 
trifle with. It is best to be sure that when such 
a great risk has been assumed, a certain definite 
result will ensue. 

Doubling Hearts, Diamonds or Clubs 

If the maker will average four tricks on his 
make, it seems fair to think that either ad- 
versary can double when holding five probable 
tricks, always with an eye on the score. And 
yet the mere fact of a double being announced 
by either adversary so locates the strength of 
the hand that often it costs a trick. 

If the make has been declared on your right 
so that you play after the maker and not before 
him, your position is much stronger. 



GOOD BRIDGE 23 

When the make has been declared on your 
left, your position is weak, and you must not 
double unless your hand is exceptionally strong 
and the score adverse. 

Doubling Spades Declared by Dummy 

Double spades only with a really good hand, 
or when your position in the score will be im- 
proved more than the adversaries'. If their 
score is such that 2 will not help them and 4 
will, it is foolish to double on just an average 
hand. 

You can double spades when you are strong 
in spades, even if the red suits are weak, as, in 
the absence of a red make by the adversary, 
you can certainly count on some red strength 
in your partner's hand. 

You can also double spades if weak in spades, 
but strong in the side suits. But this is more 
dangerous. In such a double be sure you are 
well protected in clubs. You never know 
whether dummy has made it spades on 
strength or weakness — he may have one or he 
may have seven. If it happens that he is strong 
in spades, and the dealer has a strong suit of 
clubs, they may redouble, and win the game at 
8 a trick. Therefore never double spades when 
weak in both black suits. 



24 GOOD BRIDGE 

Doubling Original Spades 

A spade make declared by the dealer from 
a supposedly worthless hand seems safer to 
double than a passed spade, yet even here the 
dummy may have a very strong hand and re- 
double. Bear in mind the principle already 
stated : double only v^hen your position can 
be improved and when the adversaries will not 
be materially aided. 

Examples of Good Doubles in Spades 

1. The adversaries are o, you are 2. The odd 
at 4 doesn't help them on their next deal, but 
is of great advantage to you. 

2. The adversaries are 6, you are lo. Again 
the odd at 4 does not help them much, but aids 
you enormously. 

3. They are less than 14 on the first game 
and you are 18 or more. With spades at 4 you 
might win your first game, and begin your sec- 
ond on your own deal, while even if they re- 
doubled it would be difficult for them to take 
the three tricks needful for the game. 

The ideal places in the score to deal from 
are 6, 12, 14, 18, 22, 24. Whenever you can 
move into one of these positions by winning a 
trick at doubled spades, and when at the same 



GOOD BRIDGE 25 

time you will not help the adversaries much 
should they win it, a double must be con- 
sidered with a fair hand. 

Remember it is always dangerous to double 
spades unless holding a very strong hand, when 
the adversaries are as much as 14, as a redouble 
may carry them out. 

Caution in Doubling 

Constant doubling is not the mark of a very 
good player. Although such a one is often a 
helpful adversary, he is also unfortunately a 
most dangerous partner, his action being based 
less on judgment and attention to the score 
than on greed, haste, or a false estimate of his 
hand. 

Redoubling 

After the double and the redouble, it is evident 
that some one is making a mistake. When 
such redoubling is carried to the fantastic 
height of hundreds per trick, it is due to the 
fact that the table contains at least one poor 
player, perhaps more, and that they forget they 
are playing the mathematical game of Bridge, 
instead of the sensational one of Poker. 

As protection against such blind ignorance or 
wilful recklessness, it is generally agreed to 



26 GOOD BRIDGE 

cease doubling when the value of the trick ex- 
ceeds lOO points. 
The best rule, the one adopted by the Whist 
Club of New York, is that redoubling can be 
carried past loo only when no player at the 
table objects — any one being able to end it by 
a simple protest. 



CHAPTER III 

THE OPENING LEADS 
Opening Lead at No-Trump 

In opening your hand against a no-trump 
make you should usually lead your longest suit 
in the hope that that may prove the adversaries* 
weak suit, and that you may establish it and 
bring it in. In suits of equal length, the one 
with more honours or higher cards in it 
should be chosen. In suits almost equal it is 
better to select a red suit rather than a black, 
preferably hearts, on the ground that the maker 
would have chosen hearts rather than no-trump 
if he had been very strong in that suit. 

If your longest suit contains three honours, 
two of which are in sequence, you should lead 
the top of the sequence. The single exception 
is A K 10 suits, when fourth-best is usually 
led. 

There are other combinations also which ad- 
vanced play has shown should be led high, al- 
though they do not contain three honours. 
These combinations are here given in tabu- 
lated form for easy reference or study. 



28 



GOOD BRIDGE 



List of Leads when Holding Three Honours 



FROM SUITS 
CONTAIN- 
ING 


LEAD 


AEQ 


A 


AK J 


A 


KQ J 


E 


KQ 10 


E 


AQ J 


Q 


Q J 10 


Q 


A J 10 


J 


E J 10 


J 



NOTES 



The old lead was the K. Now A is led 
to show a suit very strong or very 
long. 

The modern lead (unless with 4 cards 
only) is again the A, which asks for 
your partner's Q Holding the Q, he 
should play it no matter how many 
he has in suit, unless he thereby 
makes a trick good in dummy. 



Some players persist in leading the 10 
from this last combination. Such a 
lead is a moss-grown relic of Whist, 
and inverts the solid Bridge principle 
of always leading the top of sequence 
cards. 



List of Leads Without Three Honours 



FROM SUITS 
CONTAINING 


LEAD 


NOTES 


A E X X X X X 

E Q X X X X X 


A 
E 


) On account of your great length 
f the other 6 cards may be di- 
f vided evenly and will there- 
) fore fall. 


A Q J and others 


A 


^ 




A E X X X X 


E 






A E X X X 


E 




>If you also hold an outside ace. 


E Q X X X X 


E 






'KQ X X X 


E 


^ 





GOOD BRIDGE 29 

In these last five cases, holding an outside ace, 
you lead high rather than fourth-best, as you 
are not dependent upon your partner's return- 
ing your suit, but can clear it yourself and 
enter on your side ace to make it. 



FROM SUITS 

CONTAIN. 

ING 


LEAD 


NOTES 


Q J 9 

J 10 9 

J 10 8 

10 9 8 


Q 
J 
J 
10 


\ While these suits do not contain 3 
( honours, the combinations are too 
t valuable to start low. Experience 
) teaches that it is better to lead high. 

With more than 5 in suit, lead fourth- 
best. 



Complete List of High Opening Leads at No- 

Trump 

For the convenience of reference, a complete 
list of the no-trump leads is here given, show- 
ing the different combinations from which each 
high card can be properly led. 

In the following set of leads each card as a 
rule announces the card below it and denies the 
one above. It is true that the king may show 
either ace or queen, but the queen positively 
shows the jack and denies the king; the jack 
shows the ten and denies the queen. Objection 
is sometimes made to the present jack lead, on 
the ground that it is too promiscuous, that it is 
used for too many combinations. But it must be 



30 



GOOD BRIDGE 



remembered that your partner will return your 
lead unless he has something much better to 
do, and that the adversary is left quite in the 
dark as to just where are situated the high 
cards of that suit. 



LEAD 


WHEN HOLDING 


A 


A E Q X or more 
AK xxxxx or more 
A K J X X or more 
A Q J X X X X 

A Q J X X or more, when holding another ace 


K 


AKxxxx ) -_,, , ,,. 
^ „ y When holding another ace 
A K X X X ) ** 

AK Jx 

K Q J suits 
K Q 10 suits 


Q 


A Q J suits, unless holding another ace 
Q J 10 suits 
Q J 9 suits 


J 


A J 10 suits 
K J 10 suits 
J 10 9 suits 
J 10 8 suits 


10 


10 9 8 X X 
10 9 8 X 



GOOD BRIDGE 31 

The Lead of the Fourth-best 

Not having any of the above combinations it 
is customary to lead the fourth-best card of 
your long suit, with the idea of informing your 
partner that you have exactly three cards 
higher, possibly some lower. 

Short Suit Opening at No-Trump 

Almost any five-card suit is worth opening 
no matter how poor it is. Its length is its pro- 
tection. Any four-card suit with three or two 
honours in it is a fair lead. But if your best 
suit is of four cards only, and also if it contains 
only one honour or no honour, it is best not to 
open it. If it has no honour in it, when your 
partner gains the lead, he wastes his effort in 
returning it, as you will probably never win a 
trick in it. If it contains a jack or a queen, 
you, by opening such a suit, imperil a trick you 
might otherwise make. So too with a king, it 
is much better to wait. And nearly the worst 
of all is a four-card suit headed by an ace ; if 
your partner wins and returns it, you are sim- 
ply establishing one trick or more for the 
dealer, which he otherwise might not be able 
to make. If you wait until forced to play the 



32 GOOD BRIDGE 

ace you will know better what to lead for your 
partner's benefit. 

Your combined efiforts should be to find the 
best suit you have between you and establish 
it. You have none ; try to find his. 

If you cannot open your four-card suit, you 
should select a short suit, preferably red, and 
of the two red suits preferably hearts. 

A singleton is a good lead, on the ground that 
your shortest suit may well be your partner's 
longest. 

Any two-card suit headed by jack or lower is 
good. Queen and one low is bad, as the queen 
is likely to win on a finesse. 

Three-card suits are not good unless headed 
by strengthening cards that will not harm your 
partner's hand. Q J x, J lo x, lo 9 x, or even 
9 X X are fairly good, but lower than the 9 such 
suits are not of much avail. J x x should be 
avoided, as it may win a trick; it is nearly the 
same as Q x. 

With a hand containing one four-card suit and 
three of three cards each, it may be impossible 
to open any of the three-card suits, on account 
of protecting honours, or they may be too poor 
to help your partner. In such a case you are 
forced to lead the four-card suit. But if it con- 
tains no honour, you would better lead the top 



GOOD BRIDGE 33 

of it. Such a lead will probably be high enough 
to warn your partner of the futility of return- 
ing it. 

The Lead of the Lowest Card rather than the 
Fourth-best 

The writer is convinced that it is a much 
stronger play with a good partner to lead the 
lowest card of a good suit and not the fourth- 
best. There is no doubt but that the fourth- 
best lead gives more valuable information to 
the dealer than to the partner. The dealer, 
with all his resources in view, can utilise to 
great advantage the important knowledge a 
fourth-best card conveys, and can often de- 
termine his second hand play with accuracy. 
On the other hand, the fourth-best really does 
your partner but little good. Dummy de- 
termines your partner's play third in hand. If 
there is no high card in dummy, your partner 
will play his highest card or one in sequence 
to it upon your lead ; similarly if there is a high 
card in dummy sufficiently protected to become 
a trick, he must finesse against it if possible. 
The only conceivable disadvantage occurs 
when your partner is in doubt whether to re- 
turn your suit or to open one of his own, which 
may be better. But by reserving the lead of 



34 GOOD BRIDGE 

the lowest card to show a suit of value, such 
as one containing two honours, or one honour 
as high as the queen, a good partner can almost 
always read the situation and choose correctly. 

When you are forced to open a suit not con- 
taining two honours or a card as high as the 
queen, you can lead not your lowest card, but 
your next to the lowest ; this rarely will be mis- 
read. Objection may be made that your part- 
ner cannot always distinguish whether the card 
you lead is your lowest or not, but you will find 
that he will be able to do so surprisingly often. 

This play was advocated by the writer to be 
used in the game of Whist many years ago ; it 
has been used constantly and successfully by 
winning teams ever since. Its use in Bridge 
is equally valuable and its advantage becomes 
ever more apparent in its use. It is, therefore, 
recommended to good players with the cer- 
tainty that they will find it of benefit. 

When using this lead it is only fair to an- 
nounce the fact to your adversaries to avoid 
the accusation of private conventions. 

Opening Leads in Declared Trump Hands 

In declared trump hands it is no longer a ques- 
tion, as in old-fashioned Whist or as in no- 
trumpers, of leading your long suit in the hope 



GOOD BRIDGE 35 

that you can establish it, exhaust the trumps 
and bring it in. The strength in trumps is de- 
clared against you, and you and your partner 
are embarked on what is probably a losing ven- 
ture. Your efforts must be devoted first to- 
wards saving the game and secondly towards 
getting the odd if possible. Only when you 
hold trump strength (four or more) can you 
dare to attack ; all other openings are more or 
less defensive. Therefore your opening leads 
divide themselves into two classes : 

Opening Leads when not Holding Trump 

Strength 

The old idea used to be that you should lead 
an ace at almost any cost in order to see 
dummy, but the game of Bridge has pro- 
gressed and ace leads have become less and 
less desirable. It has been found better to use 
other openings which do not result in estab- 
lishing a suit for the adversary, the disastrous 
effect an ace lead sometimes has, while the 
view of the dummy, so dearly obtained, is 
often of little value and void of suggestion. 

In a declared trump hand holding trump 
weakness (three or fewer) your only advan- 
tageous leads are suits headed by two cards 
in sequence, short suits, and, last and rarely, an 



36 GOOD BRIDGE 

ace. The length of the suit you open is usually 
immaterial, as the possibility of establishing it 
for future use is remote. The life of a suit is 
usually only two rounds ; after that, some one 
is likely to fail. When every one follows to the 
third round the fact is so unusual that it evokes 
comment. Therefore your efforts must be di- 
rected towards securing one of those first two 
tricks, if not both. Every time you open a suit 
which contains a tenace or a single high card 
you are opening your hand at a disadvantage 
that may cost you a trick. 

The Seven Good Leads in Declared Trump \ 
Hands when Weak in Trumps 

There are seven good leads in declared trump . 
hands when you are weak in trumps. These 
are listed below. In leading any sequence al- 
ways lead the top of it, except with A K, when 1 
you should lead K to show A. ( 

1. A K alone or with others. 

2. K Q alone or with others (except with 
K Q X, which it is better to avoid). 

3. A singleton (except K). 

4. Q J alone or with others. 

5. J 10 alone or with others. 

6. A two-card suit (except A Q, A J, K J, or 
Kx). 



GOOD BRIDGE 37 

7. An ace in a suit of four or more (never 
from A X x) . 

Notes on the Above Seven Leads 

These openings should be chosen in the order 
in which they occur. Run down the list until 
you find the first one that your hand contains. 
Don't lead the fifth-best opening if you hold the 
second. They have been carefully weighed, 
tested and listed according to value. An an- 
alysis of them follows : 

1. A K alone or with others. 

With A K alone lead A, then K. Otherwise 
lead K to show A. This lead is absolutely the 
best, as the first trick saves a grand slam, and 
the second a small one. In hearts, for example, 
the total value of these two tricks is 56 points, 
16 for the tricks and 40 for the slam. 

2. K Q alone or with others. 

With K Q J, or K Q 10, or K Q and several 
others this lead is the second-best, but with 
K O X it is wise to wait for the chance of mak- 
ing two tricks. This is a rare occasion where 
the length of your suit, or rather the lack of it, 
counts. 



38 GOOD BRIDGE 

3. A singleton. 

Don't lead a singleton when holding either of 
the above combinations. As against the K Q 
lead, in each case you are trying for the second 
trick in the suit. But with the singleton, if the 
adversaries exhaust your trumps, you will not 
be able to take it; with the K Q lead you prob- 
ably will. 

4. Q J alone or with others. 

Here the queen is a good lead. You always 
have the chance of catching the king in 
dummy, while if your partner has either king 
or ace, or both, your opening will be most ad- 
vantageous. If he has nothing, you are at least 
left with the second-best card of the suit, and 
have done no harm. 

5. J 10 alone or with others. 

This lead is also apt to be helpful to your part- 
ner, and may enable him to catch a high card 
in dummy. If your partner has nothing, your 
lead does no harm ; the adversary is only mak- 
ing tricks he is sure to make in any event. 

6. A two-card suit. 

Except A Q, A J, K J, K X. Any other two- 
card suit is apt to prove a good lead, especially 
one that may help your partner, like Q x, J x, 
or 10 X. 



GOOD BRIDGE 39 

7. Ace in a suit of four or more. 

Not, however, when holding also Q or J. 
Never open low from a suit of four or more 
containing an ace. From A x x, or A x, a low 
lead is often not bad and frequently works very 
well. But with more than three there is always 
a chance that your ace may be trumped on the 
second round. Ace from A x x is about as bad 
a lead as can be made. The suit is too long 
to trump, too short to establish. It usually re- 
sults in establishing a suit for the adversary 
and making his play extremely simple. 

Harmless Leads and Bad Leads 

If you cannot open your hand with any one of 
the above seven leads you will probably have to 
open it at a disadvantage. Still there are cer-- 
tain suits which are rather harmless to open, 
such as those headed by a 10, 9 or by a 9, 8, in 
both cases the higher card being led regardless 
of length. 

Three-card suits headed by a 10 or 9 are by no 
means good, but can be employed when all the 
other suits are more dangerous. The highest 
card should be led and followed by the next 
highest. When you play the lowest card of 
your weak suit, it should be your last card in 
that suit. 



40 GOOD BRIDGE 

Fourth-best from a king is a bad lead and 
should be avoided. If the adversary v^ins the 
first trick w^ith any card except the ace, your 
king is postponed until the third round and 
probably w^ill be trumped. If you v^ait until 
some one else leads that suit you will make 
your king on the first or the second trick, ex- 
cept in the one case w^here the ace lies beyond 
you and your partner has no card so high as 
the jack. But fourth-best from a queen is not 
a bad opening. If your partner has A, K, or J, 
you accomplish something at once, and if he 
has nothing to help you with, your chances of 
making your queen are very slender, even if 
you wait. 

Tenace suits, suits with a break in them like 
A Q, A J or K J, should be avoided, as it is so 
much more advantageous for them to be led 
to you. 

A Trump Lead 

A weak trump lead is often a good opening 
when your position is as follows : 

1. It must be a passed make, so that you are 
leading through strength. 

2. Your trumps must be valueless, such as J x, 
or lo X, or any singleton except a king. 

3. All your other suits must contain the pos- 



GOOD BRIDGE 41 

sibilities of tricks, and must be such that you 
want them led to you. 

With an A K suit, or a good K Q suit, or a 
short suit a trump lead is not sound. 

This lead should tell your partner that you 
can be counted upon for something in all the 
other suits. With this information he is not 
bound to return your trump lead, but probably 
should lead up to dummy's weakest suit. 

Opening Leads when Holding Trump 
Strength 

In declared trump hands when you hold trump 
strength (any four or more) you are no longer 
on the defensive, you can attack. There is a 
fair chance that you may beat the adversary 
at his own game. All short leads should be 
avoided and you should open your longest suit. 
If the maker should happen to have only five 
trumps, the most likely case, you may be able 
to establish your suit and perhaps force him 
first. In that case you meet on equal grounds, 
you have as many trumps as he has, his marked 
superiority has vanished, and you may win 
out on the hand. After he has. been forced 
once, even if your trumps are all small, it takes 
all his remaining trumps to exhaust yours, and 
the rest of the hand becomes a no-trumper,with 



42 GOOD BRIDGE 

the advantage to whosoever has the best 
suits. 

Therefore, in such hands, begin with your 
longest suit, avoid establishing suits for the 
dealer, and don't lead off aces, but let the hand 
develop always on the lines of trying to force 
the adversary without being forced yourself. 

Leading after Partner has Doubled 

In opening your hand after your partner has 
doubled hearts, diamonds, or clubs, your best 
play usually is your highest trump if it is a 
passed make, and you are therefore leading 
through strength. But with an A K suit it is 
better to lead the king first and look at the 
dummy ; or with a singleton and a few weak 
trumps it is better to open the singleton, as 
your partner must conclude that either you 
have no trumps or that you are bent upon some 
plan which he should proceed to develop, if 
necessary, by letting you use your trumps first. 
If the make is an original one, with the strength 
lying beyond your partner, do not lead trumps, 
but open your hand naturally. 

When spades are doubled, again open an 
A K suit or a singleton, no matter how many 
trumps you may have ; when you have neither 
of these two leads, you should lead trumps if 



GOOD BRIDGE 43 

you have one, or four or more, but not other- 
wise. If you have only one trump, it is likely 
your partner is strong in trumps, and your 
lead will help him ; if you have four or more, 
his strength probably lies in the side suits, and 
you are strong enough to try to exhaust trumps 
for his benefit. 

If you can depend upon your partner to lead 
in this common-sense way, you will be able to 
read his hand easily. If he leads trumps he has 
either a singleton trump or four or more ; if he 
does not lead them, he is either trying for a 
ruff, or has two or three trumps. 



CHAPTER IV 

SECOND HAND PLAY 

When the lead has been made and dummy- 
is laid down on the table, you as dealer are 
often called upon to decide upon a second hand 
play, on which may rest the success or failure 
of the hand. There are several cases possible : 

You and dummy may have so many of the 
adversary's suit that you can play for it your- 
sfeli'. " 

Or you may be able to win two tricks in it, 
in which case it is usually wise to win the first 
at once, as you still retain command of the 
suit (see Holding Up, page 78). 

Or you may have one sure trick and a possible 
second. 

Or you may have one sure trick which be- 
comes a question of holding up to block the 
suit. 

Or, finally, you may have only one doubtful 
trick, which, if made, will save the day. 

Therefore it is essential to understand certain 
underlying principles of second hand play, and 
to realise that cards like a king, a queen, or a 
jack in the dummy should sometimes be 



GOOD BRIDGE 45 

chanced, and yet often should not be played, 
in that they are needed to protect some cards 
in vour own hand. 

The usual case is when you hold one high 
card singly guarded in dummy, and your rule 
is as follows: 

Rule for Second Hand Play, from Dummy, in 
No-Trump 

With a high card singly guarded in duininy, 
play high usually, but not if you hold in your 
own hand J x x, 10 x x x, or any two honours 
one of which is the 10. 

List of Second Hand Plays, from Dummy, in 
No-Trump 

The various cases are as follows : an unim- 
portant card is led, one not involving the Rule 
of Eleven. In all the following diagrams you 
are supposed to be sitting at the table, with 
your hand directly in front of you, with 
dummy opposite, and the lead coming from 
your left. There are usually three cards placed 
in your hand for illustration ; the rule holds as 
well if there are more. The letter x equals any 
card not an honour. 



46 



GOOD BRIDGE 



Kx 



A X X 

A question of entry or the position of the next 
lead. If other things are equal, play king, as 
you can retain the command longer with the 
ace. 

Ex 



Q XX 

Play king. If it wins, avoid taking any chance 
to let your right-hand adversary win a trick. 
In other words, finesse if possible to lose to 
the left, so that your queen will be led up to 
and not through. 



Ex 



Jxz 



Play low. Your king is needed to protect 
your jack. In this way you are sure of one 
trick, no matter how the cards lie. But if 



GOOD BRIDGE 



47 



you play high and lose to the ace, your jack 
may be led through and you will lose the whole 
suit. 



4 



10 X 



Play low for the same reason as in case 3. 
Your king is needed to protect the ten. 



5 



A X X 



Play queen. You have a sure trick in the ace. 
More likely than not the leader has the king. 
If so, you must make the queen now or never. 



Qx 



Exx 



The same as case 2, as king and queen are of 
equal value when you hold them both. 



48 



GOOD BRIDGE 



m 

J X X 

Play low, as queen is needed to protect jack. 
If third hand has ace or king, to play your 
queen is a useless effort; if not, you will win 
with the jack. Similar to case 3. 



Qx 



8 



10 X X X 



The same as case 4. Your queen is needed to 
prevent the original leader from finessing 
against your ten on the return of the suit. 



Jx 



A XX 



Play jack. The leader may have opened a 
K Q suit. 



GOOD BRIDGE 



49 



10 



Play jack ; it is your only chance to make two 
tricks. If it wins, finesse to lose to your left. 

Jz 



Q xz 

Play low. Exactly like case 7, although an ap- 
parent exception to the rule. 



Jz 

10 X X X 

Like case 8. Your jack is needed to protect 
your ten. 

We now come to cases illustrating the second 
part of the rule where a high card singly 
guarded lies in dummy and you have two 
ihonours in vour own hand. 



50 



GOOD BRIDGE 



Kx 



13 



AQx 

Unless you need the king for an entry later, 
play it to clear the suit. 



14 



A Jz 

Play low and you must make three tricks. The 
one real exception to the rule, but one so evi- 
dent that no comment is necessary. 



Kx 



16 



A lOx 



Play low, as you may win with the ten. How- 
ever, should the hand demand an immediate 
lead from dummy, the king would be a per- 
missible play. 



GOOD BRIDGE 



51 



Kx 



16 



Q Jx 

Play king to clear the suit. 



17 



Q lOx 

Play low, as you will then be sure of two 
tricks. 



Ex 



18 



JlOx 



If you wish the lead to come from the dummy, 
play king. You are sure of one trick no matter 
how you play. 



Qx 



19 



AEx 

Play queen. The same as case 13. 



52 



GOOD BRIDGE 



Qx 



20 



AJx 



Play queen. If it wins, finesse to the left to 
coax another lead up to your A J. 



Qx 



21 



A 10 X 

Play low. You are sure of two tricks, no mat- 
ter what third hand plays. But should you 
play the queen and it be covered by the king, 
forcing your ace, your ten might later be led 
through and captured. 



Qx 



22 



K Jx 



Play queen. Similar to case i6. 



i 



GOOD BRIDGE 



S3 



Q 



23 



E 10 X 

Play low. Similar to case 17. 



24 



JlOx 

Play queen if you wish dummy to lead. No 
matter what you play, you are sure of one trick. 
Similar to case 18. 



25 



AEx 



Play jack. If it doesn't make now it probably 
never will make. 



Jx 



26 



AQ 



Play jack and finesse, if it wins, to the left. 



54 



GOOD BRIDGE 



27 



AlOz 



Play low, as the jack is needed to protect your 
ten, and then you must make two tricks. 



Jx 



28 



KQx 



Play jack. The same as case 22, 



29 



ElOz 



Play low, as jack is needed to protect the ten. 
If you should play the jack and the trick should 
run jack, queen, king, your ten might be led 
through later and caught. 



GOOD BRIDGE 



55 



Jx 



30 



QlOz 

Play jack if you wish the lead in dummy. The 
same as cases 18 and 24. 

Four Peculiar Cases of Second Hand Play 

The following peculiar and important cases of 
second hand play come under no fixed rule, and 
therefore are not generally known. They are 
so constantly misplayed that you should study 
them with the care necessary for their fullest 
comprehension, and learn them absolutely. 



1. 



AQx 



Lead = x 



Dummy 
Dealer 



The number of 
small cards on 
either side is un- 
important. 



Play low usually. But play ace if you have 
the game in sight and if there is another suit 
to which the adversaries might change, in 
which you have no protection on either side. 
Play the queen only when trying for a grand 
slam. 



56 



GOOD BRIDGE 



KJx 



Lead = x 



X X 



With more than three in dummy play low; 
but with exactly three play the jack usually. 
You may win two tricks that way. But play 
king if you can make the game, or even the 
odd, if there is another whole suit against you 
to which they may change. If the king is taken 
you still protect the suit. 



3. 



Q XX 



Lead = x 



XX 



With queen and two others in dummy and 
nothing in your hand, play queen on a low card 
led. Your one chance is that the leader is open- 
ing away from an A K suit. He certainly has 
not three honours or he would lead high. 
Therefore two honours must lie beyond the 
queen; and third hand can finesse and capture 
her. 



GOOD BRIDGE 57 

J X X 



Lead = x 



K X X 



With three exactly in each hand, play the jack. 
It is your best chance for two tricks, and the 
only time you can lose is when leader has led 
from A 10, and queen lies to your right. If the 
jack wins, finesse always to lose to the left to 
avoid having your king led through. 

Playing Second Hand from Dummy in a 
Declared Trump Hand 

As so few players open away from an ace in 
a declared trump hand it is nearly certain that 
any opening except the ace marks that card in 
third hand, and you should play accordingly. 

It is usually wise to play one of two cards in 
sequence unless you have a card of equal value 
in your own hand. 

With the ace of the suit opened and no chance 
of winning another trick in that suit, it is wise 
to play the ace at once, fearing a short lead. 
There may occur cases where you wish to place 
the lead at your right, and therefore do not 
play the ace; but you must bear in mind 



58 GOOD BRIDGE 

that there are many worse plays than ace 
at once when it is your only trick in that 
suit. 

When an honour like a queen or a jack is led, 
you must remember, if you are tempted to 
cover, that the only benefit in covering lies in 
making something good later, in promoting 
some card in your hand or dummy's. If you 
have no high card which can be promoted there 
is no benefit in covering. 

Dealer's Second Hand Play in No-Trump 

Nearly the same <rule applies to the dealer as to 
the dummy. You must usually play one of two 
cards in sequence unless you have a chance to 
win in dummy ; you must cover a high card led 
if you can make some card good later in your 
own hand or in dummy's ; and you often 
must chance a high card from a long suit 
to prevent the original leader from regain- 
ing the lead and bringing in his established 
suit. 

But there are many situations so numerous 
and diverse that it is impossible to lay down 
arbitrary rules. You must be guided by the 
condition of the suit first opened, by the con- 
dition of your right hand adversary's suit if 
he has opened one, by the fall of the cards, and 



GOOD BRIDGE 59 

by the state of the score, constantly calculating 
how many tricks you can afford to lose, how 
many chances you are entitled to take, and just 
when the critical moment has arrived for a 
desperate effort. 

There is one thing you must observe carefully 
in a declared trump hand, namely, the number 
of times a suit will go around before you can 
trump it in one hand or the other. If you have 
K X in one hand and three small ones in the 
other, you can trump after the second round, 
and therefore there will be only two rounds 
of that suit so far as you are concerned, and 
you should play your king if the suit is led 
through. But also, if you have KxxorKxxx 
in your hand and two small ones in the dummy, 
the situation is the same. There will be only 
two rounds of the suit before you can trump 
it, and it probably will be your best chance to 
make one of those two tricks with your 
king, by playing it just as promptly as before 
on the first lead through. 

Dealer's Second Hand Play in a Declared 
Trump Hand 

The dealer's second hand plays in a declared 
trump hand are practically the same as 
dummy's. 



6o GOOD BRIDGE 

Second Hand with Dummy on Your Left in 
No-Trump 

As dummy is in view beyond you, your play 
is usually simple. Holding a high card barely 
guarded like a K x or O x x, you must make it 
whenever you have the chance, but with K x x 
or Q X X X there is no need of such haste, and 
you can give your partner a chance. 

It usually pays to play one of two high cards 
in sequence when only one card higher lies be- 
yond you in dummy or when dummy is short 
in that suit. But it is foolish and dangerous 
to do so if two honours higher than your se- 
quence are in dummy, or if he has a long suit 
with one high card in it and no other entry. 
In the latter case, the dealer may refuse to win 
your first sequence card with dummy's high 
card, and later lead through your remaining 
card, finesse against it, and make the whole 
suit. 

In covering a face-card led remember you do 
so only to make some card good for yourself 
or your partner. If the entire suit lies in 
dummy, it is foolish to cover. The best rule is 
this : Cover when you hold two honours, or are 
short in the suit. When you hold two honours 
you should cover, as that will probably make 
a trick good for yourself; also when you are 



GOOD BRIDGE 6i 

short in the suit you should cover, as then there 
is a chance for your partner to have some card 
which may be promoted. But, as a rule, don't 
cover with only one honour in a long suit (four 
or more). 

Second Hand with Dummy on Your Left in 
Declared Trump Hands 

Here it is a question of making your good 
cards when you have the chance, being espe- 
cially careful to play aces usually at once. 

An ace should be held up only when the 
dealer leads a queen or a jack up to small cards 
in the dummy; here it is safe, as, if the dealer 
has the king, you will make your ace, and if 
your partner has it he will win the trick. Or 
it may be held up when the dealer is leading a 
low card or a ten up to a K J in the dummy, as 
he probably will finesse and your partner will 
make his queen. 

You must cover face-cards led with even more 
freedom than in no-trump hands, to prevent 
possible finesses. 

Second Hand with Dummy on Your Right in 
No-Trump 

Many players are prone to play in one of two 
high cards in sequence second hand on a low 



62 GOOD BRIDGE 

lead from dummy. With K Q x this is absurd, 
as you are sure of one trick by waiting, and you 
may make two tricks, while if you play in your 
queen and lose it, you surely can make but one. 
With Q J X it is wise to play the jack only, 
when at least one of the two higher cards lies 
in dummy. The single case when you should 
play the jack when dummy has no high card 
would be when dummy also has no card of re- 
entry by which he might gain the lead and 
come through your remaining high card for a 
finesse. 
Cover face-cards led when holding short suits 
(three or fewer) or with long suits in which 
you can promote a trick for yourself. 

Second Hand with Dummy on Your Right in 
Declared Trump Hands 

With two cards in sequence like K Q x or 
Q J X play the lower of the sequence cards. 

Aces should be played at once, as the leader 
may be leading from dummy up to a singleton 
king in his own hand and you should take no 
chances. 



CHAPTER V 

THIRD HAND PLAY 

The one great principle of third hand play is 
this : never finesse when there is no high card 
in dummy, but when playing to win the trick 
play your highest card. With two or more 
cards in sequence play the lowest of the se- 
quence. 

Third Hand in No-Trump 

In no-trump when there is a card in dummy 
sufficiently guarded to become a trick if you 
do not finesse, instead of playing your best 
card, you must finesse some card like a jack 
or a ten; rarely also a nine. 

Examples of Finesses in No-Trump 
Playing Third in Hand 



Q X X 



Lead = x 



Dummy 

1 

Dealer 



A Jx 



Play jack 



64 



GOOD BRIDGE 





Q X X 


Lead = x 


2 




Qxx 


Lead = x 


3 




J X X X 


Lead = x 


4 




J X X X 


Lead = x 


5 




Jxx 


Lead = x 


6 



A lOx Play lo 



KlOx Play lo 



A lOx Play lo 



K lOx Play lo 



K lOx Play lo 



GOOD BRIDGE 65 

The last case is a little unusual. The jack 
does not appear to be sufficiently guarded for a 
trick. Yet if you should play king and lose to 
the ace, the jack would later make. If your 
ten forces the ace, you have saved a trick ; if it 
forces the queen, you have lost nothing, as the 
dealer must make one trick with jack on one 
side and queen on the other, while if your part- 
ner has both ace and queen, of course it makes 
no difference how you play. 

Third Hand on a Strengthening Lead 

On a strengthening lead from your partner, 
such as a nine or a ten, a jack when you can see 
the ten, or a queen when the jack is visible, you 
must play defensively and try to utilize his 
play to the best advantage. There is nothing 
to be gained by playing third hand high unless 
you wish to ; you are not compelled to give him 
your best card, and you can frequently gain in 
position by letting his card force some high 
card from the dealer. Remember it is your 
suit you are playing for, not his. 

Unblocking Third Hand in No-Trump 

When not playing to win the trick, you must 
be careful never to be left with a high card 



66 GOOD BRIDGE 

which may block your partner's suit, except 
in the one case where you have as many as he 
has, and want the lead at the end. 

Rules for Unblocking in No-Trump Third 

Hand 

1. With A X, K X, Q X play the higher card on 
any lead from your partner. With J x play 
jack only if the trick has already been won in 
dummy, or when trying to win it yourself. 
With any other two cards always play the 
lower. 

2. With any three cards, two of which are 
honours, play the middle card the first time, 
saving the lowest to unblock with. With any 
other three cards play the lowest card first. 
The fall of this card is most important, as it 
usually lets your partner know definitely that 
you are short in that suit. 

3. With four or five cards, always hold the 
lowest and play the others up in natural order, 
except in the instance when your highest card is 
a queen or a jack, in which case you still hold 
your lowest, but signal with the next two cards 
above it. 



GOOD BRIDGE 



67 



Examples of Various Third Hand Plays 
No-Trump When Not Playing to 
Win the Trick 



in 



HOLDING 


PLAY 


10 3 


3 


Q 10 4 


10 


J 7 3 


3 


8 4 2 


2 


9 8 4 2 


4-8-9-2 


Q 8 6 2 


8-5 


Q 7 6 4 3 


6-4 



Third Hand in Declared Trump Hands 

In trying to win the trick play your highest 
card unless there are other cards in sequence to 
it, in which case you play the lowest of the se- 
quence. But when holding A J of the suit your 
partner leads, you can finesse the jack when 
king or queen lies guarded in the dummy. To 
finesse in a declared trump hand so low as the 
ten is dangerous and rarely successful. 

Showing Down 

With two cards, neither being an honour, you 
may play the higher first and then the lower 
to signal to your partner that you wish to ruff 
the third round. But remember this is not a 



68 GOOD BRIDGE 

compulsory play. Your object in making it is 
not to tell your partner you have only two of 
the suit; such information is purely secondary. 
What you should tell him is this : ''I prefer that 
you should continue the third round of this suit 
rather than change to any other.'' Therefore, 
in the following cases you do not show down : 

1. When void of trumps. 

2. Holding in trumps ace, or ace and king 
alone, when you do not care to be forced.' 

3. Holding four trumps, when you usually do 
not care for a ruff. 

4. Holding in trumps K x or Q J x, when you 
probably do not gain anything by the force, and 
when there is some other suit, like K J x or 
K X X, in the dummy, which you want your 
partner to lead through rather than to ruff you 
and make you lead some suit up to dummy dis- 
advantageously. Also, there is the other side 
of such a play to consider. If you are the leader 
and are playing a suit in which your partner 
does not show down and yet proves later to 
have no more, you should try to determine 
which of the above four reasons he had for not 
showing down. 

Since to play a higher card and then a lower 
shows your partner that you can win the third 
round of that suit, there is a chance to make 



GOOD BRIDGE 69 



the same play when he opens with an A K suit 
and you hold Q x x. You can play high-low 
and announce that you can win the third round 
with the queen. But as this round is usually 
trumped, this is a good play in one case only ; 
when dummy is the strong trump hand, and 
has only two cards of your partner's suit, and 
also has no other suit which you wish your 
partner to lead through : then it is wise to show 
down and invite your partner to continue, and 
force the dummy hand. 

Encouragement and Discouragement Cards 

As there is so seldom any chance for your 
partner to establish and bring in his suit against 
the dealer in a declared trump hand, it is rarely 
necessary to unblock in your initial play, as 
with a no-trump hand. In fact, you can use 
your cards to a much better advantage by play- 
ing a small one, a 2, 3, 4, or 5, to inform your 
partner that he must expect no help from you 
in that suit, that you can aid him neither with a 
taking card nor by trumping; such cards, there- 
fore, being distinctly discouragement cards. 
On the other hand cards like the 6, 7, 8, or 9 
should be reserved for encouragement cards, 
and should mean, as they usually do, that you 
prefer your partner to continue that suit. 



70 GOOD BRIDGE 

Examples of Encouragement and Discourage- 
ment Cards 

Partner leads an ace. You hold K 8 4 2. Play 
the 8 if you wish him to continue the suit. Or 
he leads an ace and you hold 10 8 7 2. Play 
the 2 to drive him to some other suit. 

Or he leads a king and you hold Q 9 6 2. Play 
9 if after seeing dummy you wish him to con- 
tinue, the 2 if you wish him to change. 

Or partner leads a queen which dummy wins 
with the ace. You hold K 8 6 3. Play the 8 
at once. 

Remarks on Encouragement and Discourage- 
ment Cards 

Of course sometimes your cards will be such 
as not to convey accurate information. In 
these cases, however, you and your partner are 
no worse off than every one has alw^ays been 
hitherto before such plays were practised. 
Usually you will find you can guide your part- 
ner correctly, you can urge him to continue, 
you can force him to change. When he is guess- 
ing your suit you can reassure him with a high 
card, rarely at any cost, or repel him with a low 
one. 

Such play of small cards in a declared trump 



GOOD BRIDGE 71 

hand is in line with signalling in no-trump to 
show an honour, and is also correlative with a 
reverse discard to show strength. In short, in 
all parts of the game an unnecessarily high card 
followed by a lower one is a telegraphic signal, 
meaning *'Come on." An encouragement card, 
a 6 or higher, conveys this same information 
by itself. It is either intentional to attract no- 
tice, or compulsory, owing to the shortness of 
the suit. In either case its message is alike 
clear and unmistakable. 

In no other respect has the game of Bridge 
progressed further or developed more naturally 
than in the use, by experienced players, of these 
cards of encouragement and discouragement. 



CHAPTER VI 

DUMMY PLAY IN NO-TRUMP 
Choice of Suit 

Upon gaining the lead you must make a rapid 
inventory of all the resources you and dummy 
together have ; you must estimate roughly the 
value of the hand to determine whether to play 
for the game, for the odd, or to save the game ; 
you must calculate how many tricks you can 
probably take, how many you can afford to let 
the adversaries have; and you must decide 
which suit to play for, which can be the most 
easily cleared, and which will net you the great- 
est number of tricks. 

As a rule it is useless to play for any suit in 
which you hold in both hands fewer than seven 
cards. You might hold six or even five cards 
of a suit, all high and all in one hand, in which 
case you could lead them off or clear the suit; 
but this is rare. 

You should usually play for that suit in which 
you hold the most cards in both hands. Of 
two suits equal in length it is better to choose 
that one which has the most in one hand. An 



GOOD BRIDGE 73 

eight-card suit that lies five in one hand and 
three in the other is better than one which has 
four in each hand. 

Of two suits otherwise equally balanced it is 
better to play for that one which can be the 
more easily established. If one of them is so 
composed that you will probably have to take a 
finesse to clear it, such as K 10 x on one side 
and A J X X X on the other, and the remaining 
suit is all cleared except the ace, such as K x x 
on one side and O J 10 x x on the other, the lat- 
ter is the better one to play for, as the ace must 
always make and you accomplish much in 
clearing four tricks at once. If you try for the 
first suit and your finesse loses you have not 
cleared so many tricks and the other ace is still 
against you. 

The Division of Cards 

In playing for your longest suit a good princi- 
ple to apply is this : when the cards can so lie 
as to be evenly distributed, you should play 
for them to be so. 

With seven cards in both hands the oppo- 
nents hold six ; it is possible for them to 
fall in three rounds, leaving you with a 
thirteener. 

With eight cards in your hand and dummy's, 



74 GOOD BRIDGE 



the remaining five will more often than not lie 
three and two. 

With nine cards of a suit the other four are 
found so constantly to lie two and two that it is 
an axiom of good Bridge not to finesse with 
nine, including ace and king, but to play for 
the cards to fall evenly. With ace and queen on 
one side, however, and the king lacking, it is 
proper to finesse with nine and even ten cards, 
but not with eleven, as again the remaining 
cards may fall. 

Finesse 

In playing for your long suit it is usually 
right to finesse against one card, but only in 
rare cases against two cards, unless the score 
demands it or unless you are preparing for a 
second finesse. 

Examples of Finesse 

In these examples your hand and dummy's 
may be reversed, and the number of small cards 
is unimportant. 

1. You hold X X, dummy has A Q x. Lead low 
up to the queen and finesse it. 

2. You hold J 10 X, dummy has A Q x. Lead 
jack and finesse it. 



GOOD BRIDGE 75 



3. You hold X X, dummy has A J x. If forced 
to play this suit, lead up to the jack and finesse 
it. It may win if second hand has both king 
and queen and plays low. 

4. You hold 10 X, dummy has A J x. Lead 
10 and finesse it if you can enter in your own 
hand to lead it again. But if you are already 
in dummy and have but one entry in your hand, 
it is better to lead low from the ace hand and 
trust to forcing out a high card second hand ; 
then use your one entry later to make the now 
legitimate finesse. 

5. You hold Q X, dummy has A x x. Lead 
low from the ace hand up to your queen. Your 
one chance is to find the king second hand, in 
which case you will make both your high cards. 
It is useless to lead the queen up to the ace, as 
if it is covered^ or if you finesse it and it 
loses, you can make but one trick in that 
suit. So too it is useless to lead a jack up 
to an A Q suit unless you also hold the 10. 
Your best chance to make three tricks in 
the suit is to lead low and finesse the queen, 
hoping to catch the king once guarded on your 
left. 

6. You hold J X X, dummy has A x x x or 
K X X x. You gain nothing by leading the jack. 
Rather lead low from the ace or king up to the 



76 GOOD BRIDGE 

jack and trust to forcing some high card second 
hand. 

The general principle of finesse is this : do not 
lead any high card to finesse it unless you hold 
its equal on one side or the other. 

When to Finesse 

The greatest considerations in making a 
finesse are these : what will be the result if you 
lose? what will the adversary do? and can you 
aflford to take the risk of failure and subse- 
quent loss? Many players are so dazzled by 
the prospect of the glorious profits a danger- 
ous finesse holds out that they fail to estimate 
the results of failure. When a finesse is not 
necessary to the game, when you can make the 
one trick or the tricks you need without 
finessing, it is absurd to take chances. Only 
after you have secured the game are you right 
in finessing for extra tricks or for a slam. When 
your finesse promises to lose more tricks than 
it can gain it is silly to make it unless the game 
also lies in the balance. 

Finessing to Throw the Lead 

Suits containing A Q, or A J, or K J can be 
finessed only one way. But many times you 
will have A J on one side and K lo on the 



GOOD BRIDGE ^y 

other. In such a case it is just as well to wait 
if possible until some discards will indicate 
which way you should try your finesse. But 
most important of all is this. Sometimes you 
can aflford to let one adversary win, because he 
can lead nothing to your disadvantage, while 
the other one might lead through some high 
card and ruin your hand. In these cases you 
do not finesse with the expectation of win- 
ning, but realising that a finesse is nec- 
essary you take your chance to lose, if lose 
you must, to the hand which cannot harm 
you. 
As an example of the above principle imagine 
a suit opened up to you in which you have 
K Q X, with nothing in the dummy. You win 
with the king, and it is at once evident that if 
your right-hand adversary gets in to lead 
through your O x you must lose the rest of that 
suit; your apparent protection has vanished. 
But if you can force your left-hand adversary 
into the lead, and make him lead up to your 
hand, you are guarded against him and are in 
a safe position. Therefore you should aim to 
lose any trick, if necessary, to him and not to 
your right. Once realising this principle 
you can finesse as low as you please. For 
example : 



78 



GOOD BRIDGE 



Lead = a low heart 



H 
C 

S 


5 

A J642 

KQ6 


rt 


Dummy 
Dealer 


H 
C 

S 


KQ4 
E 9 6 
A 73 



Winning with the king of hearts, you should 
cross over to the king of spades and lead a low 
club. Once past the dangerous second hand 
you can finesse the 9 of clubs. You must lose 
a trick in the suit probably, and you must take 
no chance of losing it on your right. 

You will find your game greatly strengthened 
if you will be content with hoping your finesses 
vvrill win, but expecting them to lose and being 
prepared for the consequent loss. 

Holding up Aces 



The solitary reason for not playing the ace 
of the adversary's suit at once upon his lead 
is to exhaust the partner's hand so that he will 
be unable to return it if he later secures the 
lead. 



GOOD BRIDGE 79 

It must be remembered constantly that this 
common and valuable play is directed not at the 
leader, but at his partner. When this is real- 
ised the deduction of certain rules follows as a 
matter of course. 

When not to Hold up an Ace 

You can play the ace at once in the following 
cases : 

1. When you can take a subsequent trick in 
that suit. 

2. When third hand fails on the first round. 

3. When there is only one finesse upon which 
the whole hand depends, and that perforce must 
be taken to lose to the original leader. 

4. When you can go game and there is another 
suit in which you have no protection on either 
side. 

5. When you can go game and there is another 
suit in which you have only doubtful protec- 
tion like K X or Q X X. 

6. When you and dummy together have seven 
or more of the suit, the adversary has opened, 
and you have an ace in another suit, short in 
both hands, which you cannot afford to lose 
before your own suit is established. For 
example : 



8o 



GOOD BRIDGE 



Lead = 



H 


A64 




D 


A 


O 


A6 3 


S 


KQ J7 5 3 




dimmy 




a low club 


Dealer 




H 


KJ72 




D 


42 


C 


9874 


s 


10 6 2 





Here you can play the ace of clubs at once. 
If the leader has the ace of spades he must 
make his club suit, no matter what you do. If 
your right-hand adversary has it, he is likely 
to have no more clubs to return. If he has one, 
then the leader opened a four-card suit which 
you need not fear. Should you hold up the ace, 
on the other hand, the adversary might change 
and take out your ace of diamonds, and there 
are ten cards of that suit against you, with 
probably a long suit on your right. 

When to Hold up an Ace 

When none of the above six cases occurs, you 
should hold up your ace ; the points to consider 
being that you cannot go game, and can never 
take another trick in that suit. Having decided 



GOOD BRIDGE 8i 

to hold up your ace, the number of tricks you 
must pass will be determined by the sum of the 
cards you and dummy both hold in that suit. 
Assuming that the leader has opened a five-card 
suit, if you and dummy together have five, the 
partner v^ill have three; if you and dummy 
have six, he can have only two ; if you have 
seven, he can have but one. Therefore it is 
a great help in playing to remember that with 
five cards in both hands of the adversary's suit 
you should wait until the third round, with six 
you can win the second round. If the partner 
after gaining the lead still has a card to return, 
the leader must have opened a four-card suit, 
and such suits are rarely dangerous. 

The Entry 

The value of clearing or establishing your 
long suit so that the small cards will be good 
for tricks is naturally dependent on your having 
some card of entry with which you can gain 
the lead and reap the result. Some cards of 
entry are obvious, such as an ace, or a K Q 
sequence, or a O J lo sequence. But there are 
many other ways of gaining the lead in the 
hand which has the cleared suit. The most 
important ones are here given. 



82 



GOOD BRIDGE 



An Entry in the Adversary's Suit 

If the adversary opens a suit in which you 
hold the ace in one hand and the king in the 
other you naturally must save the high card in 
the hand which later will need it for an entry, 
and win with the other card. 



D 
C 

Lead = low diamond 



D 
C 



K7 

KQ J7 6 3 



Dummy 
Dealer 



A 6 2 
9 



Here you must win with the ace, as the king 
is the only entry for your long club suit. 



D 

C 

Lead=low diamond 



D 
C 



EQ4 

Q J 106 6 2 




Here you must win with the ace, even if the lo 
would take, as you must have two entries and 



GOOD BRIDGE 



83 



must therefore have two small cards to lead 
over. 



Q7 5 
KQJ 6 5 42 



D 

O 

Lead = low diamond 



D A10 4 

C 3 

Here you must win with the ace, even if the 

10 would take, as you need two small cards to 
lead across. 




C 

Lead=:low diamond 



K J4 

Q J 10 7 6 6 




D 
C 

Here you must win with the ace, even if the 

9 would win. Should the adversary hold up the 
ace of clubs when you lead the king, you would 
need two entries for the diamond suit. 

D 
C 

Lead = low diamond 



D 
C 



10 8 5 

K Q J 7 64 




AK J93 
2 



84 



GOOD BRIDGE 




You must win with your jack, even if the 9 
could win, as again, after clearing the clubs, you 
must have two cards smaller than the 10 to lead 
across in order to enter. If you win with the 
9 and lead the jack to force the queen, the 
leader will hold off and you will have no chance 
to use your 10 as an entry. 

D J 6 3 

C EQJ432 

Lead=low diamond 

D 
C 

The first trick is won third in hand with the 
ace. You must play your queen upon it, reserv- 
ing the two small ones to lead through the 
leader's king up to your jack. Your queen is 
valueless, as you can take only one trick in the 
suit anyway, and it is necessary to win that 
one in the dummy. 

D 
C 

Lead=low diamond 



D Q J 2 

C EQJ643 




GOOD BRIDGE 



85 



This is a similar position except that dummy 
is supposed to have declared no-trump, and 
you now need the entry in your own hand. 
Instead of passing the first trick and winning 
with the jack you should play your ace at once, 
and then you must enter on either queen or 
jack. This situation is delusive. But a mo- 
ment's thought will show you you cannot catch 
the king nor can you possibly make more than 
two tricks in the suit no matter how you play. 

Entering on a Small Card of a Suit in Which 

You Have Eight or More in Both Hands 

7642 



AKQ5 

Three rounds will probably exhaust the ad- 
versaries' five cards and make dummy's 7 an 
entry. Two rounds of the suit will show you 
whether this plan will succeed. 

8 6 3 2 



AE74 



86 



GOOD BRIDGE 



Two rounds of the suit with the A K, and a 
third round which you will lose, will leave the 
8 as an entry unless some one else had four. 



Q6 5 2 



AK7 3 

Here you have one sure entry in the queen, 
but by leading the 7 first over to the queen and 
holding the 3, you may and probably will 
have a second entry in the 6, after the ace and 
king have been played. 



542 



AK8 7 63 

If the remaining four cards are evenly divided 
and fall on the first two rounds, your 5 is a 
perfect entry. 

In all these cases it is unwise to depend upon 
such a card being an entry. An uneven distri- 
bution of the cards may thwart your scheme. 
If the success of the hand depends upon your 



GOOD BRIDGE 



87 



having such an entry, you must test your entry 
first, and if it fails try some other plan. 

Building up an Entry 

This you should do before disclosing your 
suit, else the adversaries may hold off and upset 
your scheme. If you begin to build up your 
entry early in the hand before they are sure 
what you are v^orking for, you are more likely 
to succeed. 



Lead = low spade 



H 


KQ6 




D 


KQ 8 6 





AK 


S 


A642 




le 






H 


J5 3 




D 


7 3 


C 


QJ7 642 


S 


Q5 





A low spade is led and you win with the 
queen. If you play off A K clubs and then lead 
K Q of hearts to make your jack an entry, the 
adversaries will certainly not play the ace of 
hearts. But if you keep the club suit concealed 
and play off the hearts first, you may tempt 
them to play the ace and continue their own 



88 GOOD BRIDGE 

suit, oblivious of the fact that you must have 
had a reason for playing for such a short suit 
in dummy. 

Taking a Chance for an Entry 

Many times in the hand that needs an entry 
there w^ill be a card which, while not a winning 
card, could win and become an entry if a cer- 
tain higher card lies on its right. If dummy 
holds K X and you lead up to the king, it must 
win when the ace lies in second hand. Similar 
cases would be if you hold A x x and lead up 
to dummy's Q x, or if you hold A K x x and 
lead up to dummy's J x. 

This is a legitimate chance and one that often 
must be taken when an entry is needed in the 
hand holding the established suit. 

Losing the First Trick to Enter Later 

Sometimes the hand which has the long suit 
will have no other possible entry ; the long suit 
will have winning cards in it, but it will not be 
good enough to make entirely without losing a 
trick in order to clear it. In such a case the 
point is to lose the first trick while the other 
and stronger hand still has a small card to lead 
across. Lose the trick that must be lost at 
once. For example : 



L. 



GOOD BRIDGE 



89 



s 



s 



A E X X X X 



Dummy 
Dealer 



X X 



You can see that with five cards against you 
some one must have three and will stop the suit 
on the third round. Your only escape is this. 
You must lose one trick, therefore lose it at 
once ; in other words, lose your third trick first. 
Play a low card and pass it. With a second one 
to lead over to your ace and king you will win 
the rest of the suit unless there were four in one 
hand. 

S AExxxxx 



S 



X X 



Even with nine in the suit, bearing in mind 
the doctrine that the others are likely to be di- 
vided and fall, it is better to play low on the 
first trick, and provide against an unequal di- 
vision of the cards. By so doing you may pos- 
sibly lose an unnecessary trick, but if you play 



90 



GOOD BRIDGE 



for the suit to fall and it doesn't, you will have 
lost four tricks for the sake of saving one. The 
gain is disproportionate to the loss. 



S 



A K Q X X X 



S X X 

Even with A K O and a suit of eight cards it 
is wiser to lose the first trick and be sure of five 
than to risk catching them all and, not doing 
so, take only three. Of course if all six tricks 
are needed for the game you must take the 
chance and play for the suit to fall. 

S AQxxxxx 



S Jx 

Here is a similar case. If you lead the jack 
and second hand plays the king, you should 
pass it, being thereby practically sure of the 
rest of the suit. 



CHAPTER VII 

DUMMY PLAY IN DECLARED TRUMP 

HANDS 

Most of the rules governing finesse and the 
division of cards are just as applicable in de- 
clared trump hands as in no-trump. 
The best way to judge the value of a declared 
trump hand is to calculate, as soon as the 
dummy is displayed, not how many tricks you 
think you can make, but how many you see 
that you must lose. There are usually some 
certain losses that no method of play can avoid. 
Add to these the possible losses occurring 
through finesses going wrong, or through not 
making cards apparently guarded, or through 
suits being badly divided, and you will find 
that you not only arrive at a fair estimate of 
the hand, but you will also be able to determine 
whether safe, conservative play will win you 
enough tricks to secure the game, or whether 
you m.ust make some extra effort not other- 
wise justifiable to gain more tricks than are 
apparent. 



92 



GOOD BRIDGE 



Examples of Estimating Hands 



H 


J62 


D 


A73 


C 


9 653 


s 


AQ2 


H 


AKQ73 


D 


E 64 


C 


8 72 


s 


6 5 



Score 8. Original heart declared. Here it is 
evident that you must lose apparently no trump 
tricks, one diamond, three clubs and no spades 
if the finesse goes ; a total of four tricks. Your 
one responsibility in this hand is to try the 
finesse on which will depend the game. 



H 


8 3 




D 


AE7 


C 


8 6 4 2 


S 


A6 3 2 




H 


AKQ7( 


>4 


D 


6 4 3 


O 


7 6 


S 


E6 





GOOD BRIDGE 



93 



Score o. Original heart declared. Here you 
must lose one diamond, two clubs and no 
spades, as after two rounds you can trump the 
rest. Therefore if the trumps are divided, you 
will lose only three tricks and must win the 
game. 



H 
D 
C 

S 



H 
D 
C 

S 



4 3 2 
9 2 

A7 6 5 

9 7 6 



AK876 5 
K4 
4 2 
AE4 



Score o. Original heart. Here you must lose 
one diamond, one club and one spade. To go 
game you must find the ace of diamonds on 
your right and the trumps must all fall in two 
rounds. Therefore when forced to play the 
ace of clubs, lead the diamonds up to your king, 
as that is your only chance. 



94 



GOOD BRIDGE 



H 


10 4 




D 


8 6 5 3 


O 


J 7 6 4 


S 


AQIO 




H 


KQ J973 


D 


AK 


C 


5 3 


S 


6 5 3 





Score o. Original heart. Here you must lose 
one trump trick, nothing in diamonds, two 
tricks in clubs, and in order to go game no 
tricks in spades. Therefore you must finesse 
not only the queen but the 10, your one chance 
being that both king and jack are on your left. 



By estimating your suits in such a way you 
will find that many a hand is very simple ; that 
either no great efifort is needed, or that your at- 
tention must be centred on one thing alone, the 
result of which will decide the game. Even 
when you have no apparent way of winning 
and the game seems impossible to attain, there 
remains one chance ; fortunately the possibility 
of the adversary's making^! error is ever pres- 
ent, and many hands inherently too weak for 



GOOD BRIDGE 95 

the game ride to victory on the adversary's bad 
play. Also many a successful play of which its 
maker was unduly proud came about through 
ignorance or stupidity of the other side, 
through an ill-timed attack or a miserable 
defence. 



Rules for the Play of Declared Trump Hands 

In every hand wherein you and dummy have 
the majority of the trumps it is usually wise 
to lead and exhaust those of the adversaries. 
But the profits accruing from this play depend 
upon your having other high cards to make 
later, or some long suit which you can bring 
in after the adversaries' power to interrupt it 
has been destroyed. 

Therefore you do not lead trumps in the three 
following cases : 

1. When the weak trump hand can trump 
some long suit which the strong trump hand 
has, either at once or in a short time. 

2. When you have not the ace of trumps and 
the adversaries must therefore win a trump 
trick, there being at the same time some weak 
suit to which they would be likely to change, 
which, however, you can discard on high cards 
in the other hand if you play those first. 



96 



GOOD BRIDGE 



3. When the weak trump hand has some long 
suit to establish and ne^ds to enter on one 
round or on several rounds of trumps to clear 
and make it. 

Examples of the Play in Declared Trump 

Hands 



H 



7 6 5 
3 






Dummy 
Dealer 




H 
C 


AEQ 8 

A 8 6 5 


4 
4 



Hearts are trumps. Here the weak trump 
hand can trump the long club suit, so that 
trumps should not be led until dummy has 
made his three. 



H 
O 



AEQ 
4 



H 
C 



J 10 9 6 4 2 
AE98 3 



GOOD BRIDGE 



97 



Hearts are trumps. Here again dummy, al- 
though apparently strong, is really the weak 
hand and must use his trumps on the three los- 
ing diamonds. 



H 


EQ J742 


D 


7 5 4 


C 


3 


S 


A6 4 




H 


10 5 3 




D 


6 3 2 


C 


AE Q 


s 


E 8 5 2 





Hearts are trumps. Here you have not the 
ace of trumps and are weak in diamonds. If 
you lead trumps the adversaries will change to 
the diamond suit, and by making one trick in 
trumps and three in diamonds will prevent 
your going game. But if you lead clubs at 
once before the trumps and discard two of 
dummy's diamonds, you must win the game. 



98 



GOOD BRIDGE 



H 


9 5 


D 


8 6 4 3 


C 


AKQ J 


S 


A 3 2 


H 


KQIO 7 


D 


9 7 5 2 


O 


4 


S 


K 6 



4 3 

Hearts are trumps. Here you confront the 
loss of two tricks probably in trumps and three 
or four more in diamonds. But if you lead 
clubs at once and throw off the diamonds you 
may lose only the two trump tricks and one 
in diamonds and go game. Some players fear 
to lead the plain suit first, having had the idea 
of leading trumps at once so ground into their 
minds, but this scheme of play cannot fail. 
Even if an adversary trump one of your clubs 
you lose nothing, as you discard a surely losing 
diamond; it is simply an exchange of tricks 
with every chance for gain in your favour. 

Entering on the Last Round of Trumps 

• 

Often you can win one round of trumps in the 
hand that has the long suit. If you see that 
that long suit is cleared first, and then win the 



GOOD BRIDGE 



99 



last round of trumps in that hand, you have 
used your trump for an entry. For example: 



H 

S 



H 

S 



Q6 4 
AQ J6 3 



A K 10 7 2 
K 



By winning the first two rounds of trumps in 
your hand, then playing the king of spades, and 
then finishing the trumps in the dummy you 
have entered and can probably make the suit. 
You certainly have avoided the risk of overtak- 
ing the king of spades. 



H 
C 



H 
O 



5 4 2 
AKQ J3 2 



AKQ7 63 



This is a somewhat different case. If the 
trumps are divided two and two they will all 



'^OF^ 



loo GOOD BRIDGE 

fall, and your 5 will be left in the dummy as 
an entry for the club suit. The catch in such 
a position is this : the dealer often is forced at 
the start and carelessly trumps with his 3 of 
hearts before he has fully considered his plan 
of action. When the 3 has been played the 
hand is ruined. It is a good habit to acquire, 
that of saving your smallest trump in your 
strong trump hand ; many an emergency ap- 
pears when such a provision saves the day. 
The most complicated case occurs when the 
hand, the dummy for example, which is weak 
in trumps still has some few high ones with 
which he can always take tricks, as you hold 
the other high ones in your hand, and also has 
a long suit which needs to be established by 
being led and ruffed in your hand. In this case, 
if you take out the trumps first you lose the 
entries necessary for the continuation and es- 
tablishing of dummy's suit. Therefore if it 
looks feasible to establish such a suit in 
dummy you must ruff it in your hand, enter in 
dummy's hand on a trump lead, lead his suit 
and ruff it again, enter on another trump lead, 
and so continue your play that as his suit finally 
clears you will enter in his hand on the last 
necessary round of trumps, and bring in his 
good cards. For example : 



GOOD BRIDGE 



lOI 



H 
C 



AEQ 
AE66 32 



H 
C 



J 10 7 6 4 2 
7 4 



Here take two rounds of trumps; then lead 
A K clubs, ruff a third club with lo of trumps, 
and enter on the last round of trumps to make 
the remaining clubs which are probably 
cleared. 



H 
C 



Q J9 

Q J 10 8 6 4 



H 

O 



AE1076 
A 



Play ace of clubs first. Then enter on 9 of 
hearts and lead a club, trumping it with the 
king of hearts. If the king of clubs has not 
fallen, lead across to jack of hearts and trump 
another club with the ace of hearts. If the clubs 
are now cleared, as they probably will be, you 
can enter on the queen of hearts and make the 
suit. 



I02 



GOOD BRIDGE 



H 
C 



J 10 6 

A 8 7 5 432 



H 
O 



AEQ 5 3 
E 



Play king of clubs first and then take the first 
round of trumps, winning in dummy with the 
lo. Lead a low club next and trump it with 
the queen of hearts. It is not necessary to lead 
the ace of clubs before the low club, as you 
must trump one round and would better trump 
this one. If seven clubs have now fallen the 
other one must drop on the ace, and so you 
can now finish the trumps, winning one round 
on your own hand with the king and taking 
the last round with dummy's jack, which is 
now the entry for the remaining clubs. 

Of course you may find the cards so unevenly 
distributed that the suit will not clear or you 
cannot exhaust the trumps. But in such cases 
probably no other plan will succeed any better, 
and the possibility of using this scheme must 
always be in mind. It must be so familiar that 



GOOD BRIDGE 103 

you can see at once the kind of hand adapted 
to its use and wherein it may succeed. 
This method of play daunts some players of 
fair ability, because it necessitates rufifing in 
the strong trump hand, something they have 
learned to avoid. But it is one of the few cases 
wherein you can afiford such apparent ex- 
travagance, as the ultimate gain repays you. 

Double Ruff 

The only value in a double ruff lies in making 
the trumps in the weak trump hand. You 
trump with the strong trump hand only to re- 
gain the lead, so as again to force the weak hand. 
If you could enter again in your strong trump 
hand on an A K suit it would certainly be bet- 
ter than weakening it with a force. Therefore, 
if you bear in mind that your gain consists in 
the trumps you make out of the weak hand, you 
must realise that the instant you have made all 
those the motive for your play is gone. The 
careless player exhilarated by the success of 
his devastating cross-ruff continues it once too 
often ; from habit he forces his strong hand 
after the weak hand's trumps are all made and 
thereby often loses a chance to establish some 
card or make some finesse. 



104 



GOOD BRIDGE 



H 


6 4 2 




D 


8 6 5 3 


C 


4 


S 


A7 6 5 


3 


H 


A K Q 10 7 5 


D 


AQ 


O 


A 9 6 3 


S 


2 





Hearts are trumps. You must trump clubs in 
the dummy and spades in your hand, but after 
trumping a club with dummy's last trump, 
don't force your strong hand with another 
spade, but lead up to the diamond finesse ; 
otherwise you will have to lead diamonds from 
the wrong side. 

In all cross-ruflfs you must look out for this 
also. You may be trumping with such high 
trumps that the adversaries cannot overtrump 
you, yet they may be getting discards and pre- 
paring to trump some other suit. Therefore, 
when playing your cross-ruff you must watch 
to see if you have not an ace or an ace and a 
king, which you should make first before they 
have a chance to discard that suit and later 
trump your winning cards, thus regaining all 
the advantage you are apparently reaping. 



GOOD BRIDGE 



105 



Leading for the Last Trump 

It seldom pays to exhaust the last trump 
when it is higher than any you have. Some- 
times, however, it occurs that you have some 
established suit on one side, and just one card 
on the other to lead over to enter with. In this 
case if you do not draw the adversary's last 
trump, and the established suit is ruffed when 
you begin to play it, you can never enter to 
make the rest of it. In such a case with two or 
more trumps yourself, or being able to win 
whatever is led, you must draw the last trump. 
For example: 



H 


7 6 5 




D 


8 6 


C 


7 4 2 


S 


AKQJC 


I 


H 


AKQIO 


4 


D 


A 9 3 2 


C 


KQ 5 


S 


2 





Hearts declared trumps. Ace of clubs is led, 
and then a low one which you win. After three 
rounds of trumps the jack still remains against 
you. As you can enter on every suit you must 
draw the jack and will then make five odd. 



io6 GOOD BRIDGE 

Doubling up the Trumps 

Sometimes it happens that you are left with 
two trumps, but not the highest, and the ad- 
versaries also have two, but you cannot tell 
whether they are in one hand or divided. It 
is a most dangerous play to lead again and 
chance finding them divided, hoping they will 
both fall. If they do fall you will save only 
one trick, but if you find them in one hand and 
they have some established suit, you will lose 
heavily. Instead of leading trumps you must 
lead your established suit, or some winning 
card to force them and deliberately let them 
make both trumps. By forcing them first you 
will be left with the long trump and can surely 
make your other good cards. 

If you have three trumps left you usually can 
take the chance of doubling up the two that lie 
against you. 



CHAPTER VIII 

SIDE PLAY 
Side Play in No-Trump Hands 

Almost all players seem to think that the 
greater part of the game of Bridge lies in the 
play of the dummy hand. During the other 
three deals they lose their interest, sit in a state 
of apathy, and even impatiently await their own 
deal. But this is a false estimate of the game. 
The play of the side hands against the dealer 
is fully as important as the dummy play, often 
far more so. The responsibilities are enormous. 
There is no other part of the game where the 
superiority of a truly great player is so marked. 
You must be on the alert every instant to de- 
feat a tentative advance on the dealer's part, 
to oppose an impregnable defence, or even to 
attack boldly and brilliantly yourself whenever 
a weak spot is disclosed ; watching dummy, cal- 
culating your partner's hand, deducing the 
dealer's scheme from his play and his discards, 
taking advantage of every point in the shifting 
scene of the game, and above all counting, 
counting, counting with the score ever in your 
mind. 



io8 GOOD BRIDGE 

Your side play does not consist in your part- 
ner's opening some suit which you win and re- 
turn, feeling that your immediate duty has 
been discharged. You cannot commit yourself 
to one plan of action, and nailing your colors 
to the mast sail forth to victory or defeat. You 
must be alive to the necessity of changing your 
entire play at a moment's notice. What was 
the best thing to do an instant ago may have 
become the worst ; the suit you have determined 
never to open may in a minute be the only one 
you can open. There are no positive values; 
everything is relative, secondary and de- 
pendent. 

Considerations Governing the Leader's Play 
After Seeing Dummy 

Your opening lead, which has been explained, 
is more or less a plunge in the dark. But the 
moment dummy is displayed and you have seen 
the result of the first trick, your responsibilities 
begin. If you are the original leader, every 
time you gain the lead after your initial open- 
ing you must decide upon your next play only 
after carefully considering four things : 

1. Whether you should continue the suit you 
first opened. 

2. Whether through a lead or through dis- 



GOOD BRIDGE 109 

cards you have had any information from your 
partner upon which you should act. 

3. Whether dummy displays some weak point 
to which it may pay to shift. 

4. Or whether the dealer has started some 
scheme which it is necessary to thwart at any 
expense, abandoning all else. 

Analysis of the Above Four Considerations 

1. Whether you should continue the suit you 
first opened. 

Here you must be guided by the strength or 
the weakness that dummy discloses in that 
suit; also by the card your partner played and 
the information that it conveyed; and, in case 
the dealer won the trick, by the value of the 
card he played with, the chance of its being a 
false card. If your suit lies heavily against you 
in dummy, if your partner's card implied little 
or no aid, or if the dealer won the trick cheaply, 
you should change suits. 

2. Whether through a lead or through dis- 
cards you have had any information from your 
partner upon which you should act. 

If your own suit is not established, and your 
partner has failed to return it, but has led an- 
other, it must be either for the reason that he 
has no more of yours or because he prefers his 



no GOOD BRIDGE 

own. In either case unless your hand is very- 
strong, it is better to return his lead. Or again 
your suit is not established and he has asked 
for some certain suit, by a reverse discard in it, 
or by discarding from the other suits. Again 
you would better lead for his suit. 

3. Whether dummy displays some weak point 
to which it may pay to shift. 

When you do not care to continue your own 
suit, when your partner has shown nothing, 
you are forced to turn to dummy for hint or 
suggestion. In such cases it is not a bad play 
to change to that suit in which dummy and 
you together have the fewest cards. This is 
more likely to be your partner's suit than any 
other. 

4. Whether the dealer has started some 
scheme which it is necessary to thwart at any 
expense, abandoning all else. 

This case, usually well marked, is often over- 
looked. Either the leader never sees the sit- 
uation at all and goes stolidly on with his own 
suit just because he began it, or he appreciates 
the peril but either is ignorant of how to over- 
come it, or hesitates to employ a play so rad- 
ical. The one com.mon, almost universal case is 
where dummy has some long suit nearly estab- 
lished, and one solitary entry to make it with. 



GOOD BRIDGE in 

If that entry can be taken out before the suit is 
established, the suit will never make, and the 
game will be saved. Therefore your own suit 
must be abandoned and y.ou must lead to take 
out dummy's entry, and usually your highest 
card. For example, dummy's suit is nearly 
established and his entry is an ace which he 
has once guarded. You hold in his ace suit 
king and two small. You should lead your 
king because either dummy must win your 
king and lose his ace prematurely, or you will 
win the trick and force his ace just as surely 
on your next low lead. Sometimes such plays 
may cost a trick, but they often save huge 
losses. 

Considerations Governing the Play of Third 

Hand 

The responsibilities of the original leader's 
partner, commonly called third hand, are nearly 
the same as the original leader's. In this posi- 
tion you must also consider four things : 

1. Whether you should return your partner's 
lead. 

2. Whether your suit is better and can be es- 
tablished and brought in more easily. 

3. Whether dummy has some weak spot 
which invites an attack. 



112 GOOD BRIDGE 

4. Or whether the dealer's scheme should be 
overthrown and some card of entry extracted. 

Analysis of the Above Four Considerations 

1. Whether you should return your partner's 
lead. 

You usually should return your partner's lead 
unless you have what you consider is a better 
and more easily established suit, or unless his 
suit is twice established against him in dummy. 
If there is only one winning card against him 
in dummy it usually pays to lead and take it 
out. 

2. Whether your own suit is better and can 
be established and brought in more easily. 

This is often a most delicate point to decide. 
If your partner has opened with a small card 
and no very positive development has occurred, 
and if you have a good long suit which you can 
open with an honour, also having some entry 
to make it with, you should probably change, 
especially if dummy is weak in your suit. 

If dummy holds a jack or a ten in your suit, 
you must lead a higher card if possible to force 
the dealer to win or perhaps to catch some high 
card he may have. For example : 



GOOD BRIDGE 


113 




J4 








Dummy 
Dealer 


A Q 10 6 3 




Third hand should lead the queen 
J6 3 






Dummy 
Dealer 


A Q 10 5 2 






should le 
10 4 2 


ad the queen 






Dummy 
Dealer 


AJ973 





Third hand should lead the jack 

3. Whether dummy has some weak spot 
which invites an attack. 

When you are third hand, it is usually dis- 
astrous to change to dummy's weak suit unless 
you yourself are strong in it, or unless your 
partner has opened from weakness. If your 
partner has led his strong suit, and if you and 
dummy are both weak in another suit, that is 
probably the dealer's stronghold. It is the ex- 
act reverse of the dealer's choice (which is 
sound) of the suit in which he and dummy are 
weakest and shortest. For example : 



114 



GOOD BRIDGE 



Lead 



H 


AKQ4 




D 


AQ 7 6 2 


C 


A J 5 4 


S 


None 




low diamond 


Dummy 


H 
D 
C 

S 




Dealer 



8 6 2 
J 8 3 
KQ7 6 2 
J 4 



Passed no-trump. Third hand wins with jack 
of diamonds. For him to change to jack of 
spades would be madness ; it must be the deal- 
er's suit. He might just as well lead a diamond 
back to his partner or even a heart. The dealer 
may have a superb suit of spades and with 
none in dummy may never be able to enter 
and make them. 

4. Whether the dealer's scheme should be 
overthrown and some card of entry extracted. 

This position is exactly similar to case 4 un- 
der the leader's side play (page no). 



Holding up Winning Cards 

The play of holding up an ace to block the ad- 
versary's suit is just as incumbent upon the 
side players as upon the dealer. But it is an 
equally good play to hold up a twice-guarded 
king, safely intrenched behind the ace, and 



GOOD BRIDGE 115 

refuse to win the first trick, thus encouraging 
the dealer to think his finesse is succeeding, 
and luring him into a fatal ambuscade. 

Side Play in Declared Trump Hands 

After the opening lead you and your partner' 
have the choice of several plays of constant 
recurrence. These must be studied and learned 
so that they can be instantly recognised. 

1. Leading through dummy's strength. 

2. Leading up to dummy's weakness. 

3. Forcing the strong trump hand. 

4. Not allowing the weak trump hand to ruff. 

Analysis of the Above Four Common Plays in 
Declared Trump Hands 

I. Leading through dummy's strength. 

This occurs when dummy is on your left. Re- 
member you are not to lead through dummy's 
strength because it is strength. Your play to 
be of value must be such that it will enable 
your partner to catch high cards which dummy 
has or to make cards which he could not other- 
wise make were he to lead the suit himself. 
Therefore there is no benefit in leading through 
a suit in dummy like A K Q or K Q J, as such 
a lead cannot possibly aid your partner. But 



ii6 GOOD BRIDGE 

suits that present vulnerable gaps, like tenace 
suits, or a guarded king or queen, or ace and 
small ones — to lead through all these may help 
your partner. The test of a. suit is this : if it is 
a suit which you wouldn't care to lead if you 
held it in your own hand it is usually a good 
suit for you to lead when it lies in dummy. 
It is rarely a good plan to lead through weak- 
ness, yet if there remains a weak suit unopened 
late in the hand it may be the best thing to try. 

2. Leading up to dummy's weakness. 

When dummy lies on your right you should 
lead up to his w^eakest suit, but not necessarily 
his shortest, if he is the weak trump hand, as 
that would result in his ruffing it later, some- 
thing to be avoided. Any suit containing no 
card higher than a jack is considered weak. 
You must lead up to dummy's weakness abso- 
lutely regardless of what you hold in such a 
suit. Any suit which you would not dream of 
opening originally becomes good to lead if it 
is up to dummy's weakness. A Q suits, K J 
suits, K X, Q X X, A X X, X X X X, all are good 
leads when you open them up to a weak hand. 
The best way to do is to select dummy's weak- 
ness first and then open that suit ; not look in 
you-r own hand and set some suit aside and 
then hunt in dummy for a second suggestion. 
An A Q suit is of no value unless the king lies 



GOOD BRIDGE 117 

on your right. If the dealer has the king on 
your left, you can never catch it, and if your 
partner has it, there is all the more reason for 
you to lead it. You may lose your king if you 
open from K x, but if A Q lies on your left you 
probably will lose it anyway, and so there is 
no harm done. 

Ace and low ones in dummy is really weak- 
ness to lead up to. It is almost like a low suit 
without the ace. The ace must make and your 
partner may force it with a small card, and Ir^ter 
make other tricks in that suit. 

3. Forcing the strong trump hand. 

Some players are averse to leading their high 
cards when the adversary is going to ruff them, 
but every good Whist player realises fully the 
advantage of forcing the strong hand. If the 
dealer's strong trump hand has only five 
trumps, and you can force one out at the start, 
it makes it all the more difficult for him to ex- 
haust the trumps preparatory to making his 
long suit or other good cards. Every trump 
he loses weakens his hand that much the more. 
Many a proud six-trump hand has crumbled to 
pieces by being forced once and then, after one 
trump lead, being forced again, with the result 
that of the six trumps played the strong hand 
has contributed three. 

Care must be taken, however, in forcing a 



ii8 GOOD BRIDGE 

hand that is very strong or has all the high 
trumps. In such a case, after the force, the 
dealer may exhaust the trumps and make some 
long suit in the other hand, upon which he will 
make numerous -advantageous discards from 
some suit to which you should have changed.- 
If dummy presents some weak spot, such as 
K X, to lead through, or, if on the right, some 
weak suit to lead up to, it may be better to lead 
such a suit instead of forcing. But with a 
strong hand, with four or more trumps your- 
self, or with trump strength indicated by your 
partner's play the force is nearly imperative. 

4. Not allowing the weak trump hand to 
ruff. 

It seems to be a popular superstition if dummy 
has a singleton of a suit, although he is the 
weak trump hand, that it is incumbent upon 
either adversary to lead an ace instantly and 
capture the singleton. This is constantly done 
with great glee, and is usually accompanied 
with the remark, 'T picked that off, anyway !" 
And yet such a play is a pitiful effort ; it precip- 
itates a calamity which should be shunned, in 
that it makes it possible for the weak trump 
hand to ruff that suit. If dummy has a 
singleton or a two-card suit, and is also weak 
in trumps, he must be so long in the other suits 
that it will be fairly impossible for him to dis- 



GOOD BRIDGE 119 

card his short suit; it will always be there 
when the time arrives to play it. Indeed it is 
most probable that that is the very suit the 
dealer himself will lead in an effort to make 
dummy's weak trumps, and it is not a bad prin- 
ciple to work on, that what is a good play for 
one side is probably bad for the other. Instead 
of leading and taking out dummy's singleton, 
it would probably be a far better play to lead 
trumps and cut off at least a part of the im- 
pending ruff. The only danger in this play 
would be w^hen the dummy also has some 
strong suit which the dealer might make and 
discard upon if trumps were led for him. 

But when the dealer instead of leading trumps 
plays deliberately for some short suit in the 
weak trump hand, then it is almost certain 
that a trump lead on your part will be of bene- 
fit. If the weak hand has only two trumps 
and you can take them out in two rounds with 
ace and a low one, you will have exhausted his 
power to ruff and you may thereby gain largely 
later. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE DISCARD 

The writer has always advocated discarding 
in a no-trump hand from a poor suit, one you 
do not wish your partner to lead to you. This 
discard has now been generally adopted for 
both trump and no-trump hands. Should you 
be forced to discard from a strong suit, you 
can indicate it by discarding first a higher and 
then a lower card ; but to the general good 
player the single discard of the high card is 
sufficient. 

The discard is still the subject of bitter con- 
tention and has been threshed out to a weary- 
ing extent, but the best players of to-day 
almost unanimously follow the rules for dis- 
card here given. The hard-and-fast strength 
discard is a kindergarten device, a crutch for 
lame ducks, a resource for those whose limita- 
tion is the memorising of a single fact, and who 
decline to observe, deduce, or reason. It is 
attractive in theory but costly in practice. 
Even in the case of the beginner, to whom it is 
supposed to be peculiarly valuable, it stunts 



GOOD BRIDGE 121 

his growth, dulls his reasoning powers, and 
checks his advance in the game. 
The following system of rules is based on 
common sense, is simple, natural, practical, 
and reasonable: 

Rules for Discard 

1. There are two principles of discard: first, 
protection of your own hand, and then in- 
formation to your partner. 

2. When you have but one discard, make that 
as luminous as possible, taking into account 
fully dummy's displayed hand. 

3. If dummy has a strong or long suit which 
your partner would be unlikely to change to, 
don't discard from that suit, but from another 
one. This will mark the third suit in your 
hand. Your play is not to show weakness, 
but to guide him correctly to his next 
choice. 

4. The discard of a two, three, four or five is 
usually from a suit you do not wish your part- 
ner to lead. 

5. A reverse discard, first a high card, and 
then a lower one from the same suit, shows 
that you have strength in that suit. In play- 
ing a reverse discard make your first card as 
high as possible without loss. In fact, the 
single discard of a card as high as the seven or 



^ 



122 GOOD BRIDGE 

eight or nine, where one discard alone is avail- 
able, is usually understood as the beginning of 
a reverse and indicates strength. 

6. To discard first from one suit and then 
from another marks the third suit as probably- 
strong in your hand. 

7. To discard twice from the same suit with- 
out reversing, asks your partner to change to 
that one of the other two which best suits his 
hand, or in which he can best help. 

8. The discard of an ace shows other cards 
equally high in that suit. 

9. The discard of a king shows other cards 
equally high in that suit, without the ace. 

10. Do not discard all, or the only one, of a 
suit. Save one if possible to follow suit with, 
the first time. 

11. If possible, save one of your partner's 
suit to return to him. 

12. Save one guard for an ace or a king, two 
guards for a queen, and three for a jack or a 
ten. A jack and two small, or a ten and three 
small, is a dangerous suit to discard from. 



M\'22 



^- 



